


"Bring Your Hero Son To Work" Day

by Greensword101



Category: OK K.O.! Let's Be Heroes
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, But Professor Venomous Has Standards and 6-11 years of Daddy/Son time to make up for, Carol is a Mama Bear and No One Hurts Her Baby, Daddy Issues, Drama, Family, Family Drama, Family Fluff, Fluff, Humor, Hurt/Comfort, KO is having an identity crisis, Kidnapping, awkward father/son bonding, dark side
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-08-01
Updated: 2019-09-22
Packaged: 2020-07-28 21:31:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 24,255
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20070904
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Greensword101/pseuds/Greensword101
Summary: K.O. learns that Professor Venomous is his father. Now, they both have 6-11 years of father-son time to catch up on. But is it really worth giving the villain a second chance?





	1. The Reveal

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: I don’t own this. If I did, I’d be rich and free of student loans.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't own the show. If I did, I'd be free of student loans

“Sorry, K.O.,” Venomous sneered as he put on Lazerblast’s helmet. He loomed down at the boy menacingly, “I _am_ your father.”

“No,” K.O. whispered, his strength failing him. The purple lightning cloaking his arms began to spread as his fight for control waned. He wanted to scream, cry out for help, or ignore Professor Venomous’ claim.

_No. _He thought. _No no no no no no no no no no!_

The purple lightning began to thicken, T.K.O. banging inside of his subconscious for freedom. No amount of will power was going to help him. K.O. invested a great deal of energy in containing T.K.O. and he could feel it slipping away in his shock, slipping away like water trickling through cracks in a pool.

_It’s just a dream_, K.O. thought, _Just a bad dream and I’ll wake up and Lazerblast won’t be Professor Venomous and I’ll still have full hero blood in me. Let me wake up, Cob. Please let me wake up!_

He didn’t notice Professor Venomous kneeling down next to him, or how the villain slipped his hand into his lab coat to pull out a remote.

“Your blood,” Professor Venomous sounded amused, “Is it…beckoning you? Fighting for dominance?”

K.O. was too startled to respond.

Professor Venomous continued in what K.O. thought was meant to be a fatherly tone, “You shouldn’t keep it in like that, it’s not healthy for you. Don’t fight it, K.O. Let your blood _boil_. Free the beast.”

“N-no,” K.O. gritted his teeth, feeling his voice deepen for a moment before he quashed it down. He wasn’t letting T.K.O. out again, there was no telling what would happen if he did.

This made Venomous sigh, “Well, if you don’t _want_ to let it happen, who am I to make you?” For a brief moment, the lightning faded away. K.O. looked up at him hopefully.

_Click!_

K.O. felt the floor beneath him rise up and the purple lightning began to consume him again. TKO’s voice grew louder in his head.

** _Let me out. Let me out! LET! ME! OUUUUUUUUT!_ **

Straps pinned his arms and legs together, rotating him to face Venomous, who was searching through his lab coat again.

“Something for the nerves,” he said before shoving something under K.O.’s nose and he smelled something like lavender and mint. Immediately, the lightning was gone, and K.O. sagged in relief. His body felt numb, the effort from containing K.O. must have been a lot harder than he thought. This must be what pudding feels like, unable to keep itself together on its own. Maybe a little shut eye wouldn’t hurt…

K.O. snored softly as the straps released him. Venomous looked at him with near fondness, as if he were seeing the boy for the first time. He picked up the boy and leapt off the railings. The floor beneath him rose and the ceiling above opened, right as a cannon rose up from the floor with Boxman inside it. He had two helmets with him, one already on his head.

“Cannon’s aimed at Billiam’s, PV!” He grinned. He caught sight of K.O. in Venomous’s arms, “What’s that kid doing?”

Venomous accepted the helmet without comment and secured it onto his son, “I’m thinking of turning this into a Bring Your Kid to Work day.”

He climbed into the cannon with a baffled Boxman and smirked as it went off, sending all three of them into the sky.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Love the canon, even though I just got into it!


	2. The Awakening

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm honestly surprised so many people have given this story kudos. Feel free to continue doing so and don't forget to comment!

The first sensation was awareness. Followed by awareness of being aware. K.O.’s brain couldn’t register much else thereafter for a time. He could hear voices but couldn’t put names to them for some reason. Wasn’t he just sleeping? It felt like his fingers weren’t there anymore, though. And he didn’t feel a soft blanket covering him. And Mommy would hold him a lot differently than…what?

His mouth fumbled over half-made words, his tongue heavy as a boulder.

“…payment just received…”

Payment? Like working at the Bodega and getting handed a check from Mr. Garr? And then having Mommy put most of it into the bank for college? And who was that talking? He never heard that person before.

“…forward to doing business again…”

That voice. It sounded…familiar. And it make K.O. want to throttle something.

“I’m not going to even ask about _that _in your hands. Heroes aren’t allowed in my home, you know.”

“_That_ is none of your concern, I’m afraid, Billiam.”

K.O. chose that moment to groan as more feeling returned to his body little by little.

“Now if you’ll excuse me,” he was starting to match a name to the person talking. Valor?...Venus?...Vinyl? Now there was movement, brisk and with intention. He was adjusted in someone’s arms almost protectively. Now they were bouncing up and down, probably going downstairs.

A scoff came from someone else behind them.

“_I’m thinking of turning this into a Bring Your Kid to Work day_,” the new voice imitated the first one sarcastically in a strangely high pitched tone for a man, “All the brat did was dangle in your arms like game. What a waste of time!”

“Why are you complaining? It didn’t affect the deal at all,” the first voice said, “Besides, _you _wouldn’t want to have him wrecking things at the last minute, would you?”

“No, I guess I wouldn’t,” the second voice agreed, “it feels nice to win once in a while.”

“Oh, we definitely won something,” the first voice sounded viciously victorious, “I never even knew.”

“You know, I _told _you we should have drawn out the reveal. Maybe say it in front of the other plaza nuts like that mom of his or the shirtless muscle man. Maybe POINT, even,” the second voice said. K.O. cracked open one eye halfway and shut it just as quickly. Reveal. Drawn out. _Venomous! _Oh. And Buttman. His brain was working a lot better than it was a few minutes ago. “Now we have to drag a hero brat around with us for the rest of the day.”

“Not for too long,” Venomous said, “the drug should be wearing off now. Right, _son_?”

K.O. opened his eyes in surprise, seeing Venomous looking at him with amusement. That would have been nice if it was his mom or Enid or Rad, but this creep was making it all…_creepy!_ He tried jumping out of Venomous’ grasp. But his limbs flailed helplessly like a baby instead.

“What did you give me?” He demanded.

Venomous smirked, “I told you, something for the nerves. And now you can’t control your arms or legs without my saying so.”

“Why am I here? What do you want?” K.O. registered straps around his head, “And why am I wearing a helmet?”

“One, you’re here because I want you to be. Two, what I want is power and wealth, things I already have, but I don’t think that’s what you meant. Three, we were fired out of a cannon and there were only two available. You’re welcome, by the way.”

K.O. struggled to move, but Venomous’ hold didn’t give. He thought it was the most humiliating thing he ever had to deal with. It was worse than when he let T.K.O. freely control his body for a whole day without supervision. He felt himself lowered to the ground, Venomous only maintaining his grip on one wrist. To his surprise, his legs didn’t buckle when they touched the floor.

“Here’s what’s going to happen,” Venomous began in a calm tone, “We’re going back to Boxmore and you’re going to stay by my side the entire time, okay?”

K.O. glared at him in response and tried to swing a punch at him. His other arm didn’t respond.

“That’s it?!” Buttman looked at Venomous in disbelief, “You’re letting the brat into my facility and you’re _turning it into a field trip?!_”

“Yeah?” Venomous raised an eyebrow, “What would you expect me to do?”

“Torture him! Dissect him! Lock him in a cell and hold him hostage for the Bodega losers to waste their time rescuing! Have sessions of physical torment and make him lose hope! Make him cry for his mommy and have him wet himself!” Buttman listed off.

“In other words, you want me to put a target on our backs by doing all this to him,” Venomous’ voice was monotone, “Giving Silver Sparks, Elbow, and the rest of the heroes at the Plaza a reason to destroy us and our minions. Maybe even for good.”

“Well, yes,” Buttman nodded with satisfaction. He wilted when he saw the odd smile Venomous now had on his face, like he was doing everything in his power not to lose his temper.

“Boxman, I might be a villain, but I also have standards. You don’t see me doing that with Fink, do you?”

Buttman started to sweat, “Didn’t you have Daryl trap him and his friends, separate them, have all three of them watch goo clones of themselves get crushed and top it off by saying you wanted to dissect them when they were mentally broken?”

Venomous looked thoughtful, “I did? Oh, right, I _did_ say that.”

K.O. also remembered that and felt his blood boiling at the thought. This jerkface thinks that he was just going to forget about what he put K.O., Enid and Rad through just like that?! For a wild moment, he decided to let T.K.O. out to handle those two creeps but found that he couldn’t reach into his subconscious. He closed his eyes and concentrated harder, trying to find that _part _of him that held his darker side. He couldn’t feel any lightning cackling around him, no loss of control, no _other_. Maybe that drug kept him from letting T.K.O. out, too.

“Come on, K.O.,” Venomous ordered, but in a gentle tone.

He tugged at K.O.’s wrist and to the boy’s shock, he started walking alongside the villain. Buttman followed close behind, looking even more baffled than usual.

“Aw, come on, PV! We could torment him! Think of the possibilities!

“Not now,” Venomous said impatiently, “Now come on!”

K.O. thought of crying out for help, but one look from Venomous stopped that thought. It wasn’t a threatening look, it looked more curious and interested.

If Venomous wasn’t going to torture him, then maybe the best thing to do was wait for the right opportunity to strike. Maybe wait until he had better control of his body. He hoped he would get out soon before his mom started worrying.


	3. The Talk

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please comment! Thank you!

Radicles had purged his body a sixth time that day, his body sagging against the cool floor. He didn't care that it was in the bathroom, he just wanted to plant his face against the tiles until his stomach stopped being a jerk to him. A few stalls away from him, Enid had just finished another round of vomiting and was groaning loudly.

It really stinked, he thought, it stinked that they both got sick and couldn't just get over it like a typical cold. It stinked that they felt so weak after so many times flushing their systems to get over the stupid bug. And it stinked that there was a mission Mr. Gar wanted them to do and only K.O. was well enough to handle it.

_He'll be fine_, Rad told himself, _he's a tough kid. It's just a glorb deal and Buttman won't be a problem._

A new voice was heard outside his stall, "Rad, Enid, if you're feeling a little better, I brought some ice for you both to chew on."

"Great…" Enid said in her stall weakly.

"K.O.'s mom?" Rad managed to ask.

"That's me," Carol replied cheerfully.

"Why did we have to get food poisoning?"

"Cause you ate bad food."

"No. Why did we have to get food poisoning when there's a mission to do?"

A short time later, Carol had helped Enid and Rad out of the bathroom and into some nearby chairs. She handed them small chunks of ice with advice to take it slow. Rad obeyed without argument, the last time he got sick and didn't listen to his friends, his telekinesis was out of whack. There was a small part of him that wondered if the ice would do any good for his stomach, none of the remedies Enid or K.O. tried on him helped last time at all.

That doubt was quashed as his stomach slowly settled, the relief was slow, but clearly there.

"Take it easy for the rest of the day," Carol ordered them in a fake-stern voice, "Doctor's orders."

"Then where's your MD, Doc?" Enid smirked.

There was a quiet for a time, Carol looking over the two workers and even going over to both of them and rubbing their backs in soothing circles.

"This'll pass in no time," she assured them.

Just then, Mr. Gar came in looking agitated.

"Gene, what's up?" Carol stood up.

"K.O. should have been back by now," he said, checking his watch.

"From where?" Enid asked.

"since you two were throwing up, I sent him to intercept the glorb deal himself," Mr. Gar brushed past them, clenching and unclenching his fists.

"It's K.O., he probably just got captured or something," Rad waved dismissively, "He'll be back in no time."

But Enid was looking at her watch with a frown as he said this, "I don't think so. We usually get out of traps in eleven minutes, give or take."

"Really?" Rad looked at her in surprise. She nodded and Rad looked thoughtful, "Huh, it always seemed longer than that."

**O.K. K.O. (LET'S BE HEROES!)**

K.O remembered Enid talking to Elodie about a show with the heroine being under control of some villain. Any order he gave, she would have had to follow whether she wanted to or not. He didn't really know anything else about the show because Enid had stopped talking when she saw K.O. in the same room. All he picked up on was that the heroine was aware of her actions but couldn't do anything about it.

Maybe being unable to control his own body was like a similar experience. Maybe Professor Venomous was like the bad guy Enid mentioned.

A door slid open and he had no choice but to follow Venomous inside. It was a nice looking room with bare walls and a bed big enough for him. There was a flat screen TV on one end of the room and a chair with a desk close by, but other than that, there was nothing else.

Venomous pointed to the bed, "Why don't you take a seat?"

He let go of K.O.'s hand and waited. K.O. took a step forward and stopped. What if the drug was starting to wear off now?

"Sit on the bed right now, I want to talk to you."

K.O. felt his feet moving again and tried to struggle, but nothing worked. He sat down on the edge of the bed while Venomous moved the chair over and sat down as well.

"K.O.," Venomous started, "I want to start this new relationship on a…more positive note."

"Meaning?" K.O. wished he could have crossed his arms as he said this, but at least he could still scowl.

"We wipe the slate clean," Venomous supplied, baring his teeth in an evil grin. Or at least, it was an _un_intentional evil grin, K.O. hoped that whatever expression was on his face was enough to make Venomous realize what he was doing. He coughed into his mouth and continued, "It's been, what? 6-11 years? That's a long time and I already have lots of ideas for father-son bonding we could do –"

"LIKE ATTACKING THE PLAZA!"

Venomous ignored Boxman's shout and smiled, "Exactly like that."

K.O. shook his head.

Venomous frowned, "Okay…? How about destroying public property?"

"Nope."

"Stealing candy from a baby?"

"NEVER!" K.O. shouted.

"MY CANDY'S OFF LIMITS, BOSS!" Fink shouted through the door. There was a pause and then, "AND I'M _NOT _A BABY!"

"I wasn't talking about you, Fink!" Venomous called back.

Venomous pinched the bridge of his nose, "Do you want a formal apology for our previous encounters, then?"

"I want to kick your butts and go back to the Bodega!"

Boxman popped his head through the door just then.

"Do you think your little friends will want to spend time with you, knowing you're part villain?" He sneered. He caught Venomous' stare and slunk away. K.O. stared off, cold sweat beading his brow. What did Boxman know? His friends went to the trouble of rescuing him the very first day they met, they wouldn't…they couldn't…

Venomous looked uncomfortable, "How about we pick up the discussion in a little while? We could talk more at dinner." He stood up without further comment and tried to give a reassuring look, but stopped when he saw the purple lightning appear again. And then he was gone, and the door closed behind him.

K.O. could feel his limbs shaking uncontrollably. **I want out. You dumped me here! I want out of this place!**

_I am loved and appreciated. I am loved and appreciated._

**You're just a scrawny kid. Half-villain. Look at me! Look what I can do!**

_I am loved and appreciated, I am loved and appreciated. I AM LOVED AND APPRECIATED!_

T.K.O. gave up his taunts and it became quiet again. Except for the muffled sounds of K.O. crying into the pillow.


	4. The Rescue

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Update: Sept. 22. Noticed a small plot hole. No description of PV having his old helmet with him, so I fixed that to make Gar's comment feel less cut and pasted

Enid signaled to Rad and they both crept out through the back. Carol’s pacing was turning more frantic and Mr. Gar looked like he was ready to storm Boxmore himself if K.O. didn’t answer his calls soon. After the last time with Venomous, they weren’t going to take any chances.

There was no _way _they were gonna let their little buddy get dissected! Sure, their stomachs still felt like crud, but the worst was over. They weren’t vomiting every five minutes anymore, at least. They brought some bottles of water – not to drink, just to rinse their mouths off with – and swapped their uniforms for the black unitards they used on missions. This would have to be fast and brutal – Enid was hoping it would be _spectacularly _brutal.

They were gonna get their buddy back, no matter what it took.

**O.K. K.O. (WE FIGHT TO THE END!)**

K.O.’s phone rang again, but he didn’t pick it up.

_Ring ring ring ring!_

It was probably Mr. Gar calling him to see what was taking him so long. Maybe even telling him that he was going to go in after him if K.O. was in any trouble at all.

_Ring ring ring ring!_

Mom was probably getting worried too, she’d be ready to storm in and fight to the end just to get him back.

_Ring ring ring ring!_

It was going to be bad enough for Mom when she found out, but K.O. couldn’t bear to see Mr. Gar looking at him like he was some monster. And he couldn’t bear to have the others see him the same way. It was bad enough when T.K.O. first appeared and wreaked havoc on the Plaza.

The ringing stopped.

Nobody else came into the room after Venomous left. Not even Fink, which would have made sense, she would have taken a moment to taunt him like she did last time. He was all alone, silently waiting out what was going to come next. Face still buried in the pillow, he was honestly surprised that it didn’t take long for the crying to stop. He felt angry, terrified, distressed and helpless. Now he just felt…empty. Was he going to end up calling Boxmore his new home? Was he going to end up having to attack the Plaza from now on?

**Aw for cob’s sake! You’re strong! Just bust your way out of here!**

_I can’t, _K.O. thought, _I don’t know what will happen._

**Then let _me _handle it! **T.K.O. suggested. **I can take over the show from here and get us out of here!**

You _lost that privilege!_

**I’ll behave this time!**

_No you won’t!_

**Yes I will!**

_No. You. WON’T!_

**YES! I! _WILL_!**

Just then, he heard Boxman’s voice echoing outside in the halls.

“Attention Rad and Enid,” Boxman must feel like he was on a roll if he sounded so cheerful, “We have your precious friend with us. No need to panic, he’s unharmed. If you want him, come and get him.”

He paused before speaking into the microphone again. K.O. was sure that Boxman was sneering right now, “By the way, be sure to give us a little warning when you come in. Professor Venomous and K.O. are in the middle of catching up. Your little buddy’s just so _eager_ to know his father.”

**You Are My Best Friend (LET’S BE HEROES!)**

Venomous looked over the monitor with a mix of amusement, boredom and frustration. On one hand, he wanted to see the reactions of those two other heroes when the bomb was dropped. On the other hand, he wanted to do _that _part within the span of another season. Draw it out more, make them wonder why he would potentially interact with K.O. more often. One look from Boxman told him that it was clearly a form of payback for telling K.O. that he used to be Laserblast. Well played, Boxy. Well played.

Their reactions looked priceless; it appeared they had taken the moment to have a drink when Boxman announced over the speakers. In unison, they both spat out the water with bug-eyed expressions. Then they just took on more grave expressions and began to attack Boxmore with vigor, destroying any Darrel, Shannon, or Raymond that got in their way. Jethros were just ignored and the Ernestos just ran away screaming in terror.

Boxman rubbed his hands maniacally, “Once they find K.O. and confront him with this new revelation, their friendship would be over forever! Just like it should have been from the beginning.”

He looked at Venomous and added, “Oh, and you’ll have an excuse to keep him here. No one would want him after this.”

Venomous was tempted to question his partner’s line of logic, but the part about the hero community turning their backs on K.O. sounded plausible at best. Fink was watching the monitors as Rad and Enid continued their rampage – and while they appeared to be sick too, that was impressive – with a rare expression of dread.

“Boss, we gotta get outta here!” Fink tugged at the hem of Venomous’ coat frantically to no avail, “Before they blast us with a love beam!”

“Not now, Fink!” Venomous pushed Fink behind him, trying not to lose his patience with her. The next few minutes would define what the future would hold for everyone and he did _not _want it interrupted. She was a good minion and he could never handle seeing those puppy-dog eyes whenever she thought she was in trouble. The last thing he wanted was to yell at her. He held his old helmet under one arm, reluctant to dispose of it, thinking of the upgrades he could add to it.

“If you want to know where K.O. is,” Boxman spoke into the microphone again, “He’s in room 101. And don’t worry, K.O., we have a screen in there for you to watch your knights in shining armor as they brave their way to you.”

**O.K. K.O. (LET’S START THE SHOOOOOW!)**

K.O. was shaking like a leaf as he watched Enid kick another fireball at another camera feed on the screen that just appeared on one of the walls. They shouldn’t be here; they wouldn’t want to hang out with him anymore if Venomous and Boxman had their way. There was a camera feed showing Boxman who was looking like Christmas had arrived a day early. Venomous, on the other hand, had some sort of sympathetic expression on his face.

Oh yeah, he was _so _sorry that his surprise son slash enemy was going to have the bomb dropped on his best friends. Just like he was sorry for all those times he helped Boxman attack the plaza, or shot K.O., Rad and Enid into the sky with that improv pie cannon, or making those goo clones with their memories and actual souls and then killing them in front of K.O. and the others – _twice_, in K.O.’s case – and then adding that he would want to break them and dissect them like frogs.

Professor Venomous was _definitely _getting the Father of the Year award after all of that.

All too soon, Rad and Enid burst through the door, looking pale in the face, but bracing for a fight. Not even food poisoning was going to stop them from trying to look out for him. It was going to make the next few minutes even worse if they didn’t get out. K.O. tried to run towards them; they came to save him, now they could get out pronto. But before he could make it past two steps, an opening in the wall on K.O.’s left appeared and Venomous was entering right through it, Fink and Boxman trailing close behind. Boxman was holding a bag of popcorn and munching on it hungrily.

“Radilcles, Enid. Pleasure to see you again.” Oh cob, that sickeningly-sweet voice was making K.O. want to go T.K.O. on that dirtbag right now.

**Yeah, we can crush that bug and send the robot chicken out after him!**

“Professor Venomous,” Enid’s stance went rigid. She smirked, “Good, we get to save our pal _and _kick your butt in record time!”

Rad mirrored her expression, “Yea-heah! I’ve been wanting to get back at you for last time!”

“Oh, I’m not here to fight,” K.O. looked at Venomous and saw how affable the man was acting. Like he was greeting an old friend, “In fact, I just wanted to greet you personally with my business partner and minion.”

“Oh, hey Buttman and Fink,” Enid spared a glance at them before directing a glare at Venomous, “Great, we said hi, now we’re taking K.O. back!”

“Or things are gonna get messy,” Rad raised a finger in the air and let it become engulfed in a purplish-pink aura.

“You want K.O. back?” Boxman had a look of faux-surprise on his face, “Oh dear, this _does _complicate things, now doesn’t it? With his dad and all? The famous Laserblast in the flesh. But you know him as Professor Venomous.”

Rad looked dumbfounded and stared blankly. Enid looked to K.O., “He’s joking, right?”

K.O. shook his head.

Then Enid and Rad charged towards K.O.

_This is it_, K.O. thought, _We can’t be friends anymore…_

He was shocked when they both pulled him in for a big hug, Enid holding Rad and K.O. up by herself. That’s when they started asking him stuff at the same time, it was hard for K.O. to keep up.

“You’re not hurt, are you?”

“– long have you been –?”

“They didn’t – ?”

“- stuck in here?”

“- no one hurt you, did they?”

“W-what?” K.O. stared at his friends in shock, “Why would you care?”

“Are you kidding me?!” Rad picked up KO and ruffled his hair, “We came here to save you!”

Venomous felt himself knocked back a couple of feet. He maintained his footing and looked around frantically for where the attack came from.

“But I have villain blood in me,” K.O. mumbled, “Why would you want to be around me?”

Enid took him from Rad and cradled him in her arms, “It doesn’t matter who you’re related to.”

She tossed him in the air, “We like you for _you_!”

K.O. could hear Boxman going apoplectic at the sight, and the audible _crack! _informed him that the wall took the blunt of the fury.

“You’re still K.O.!” Rad added, emphasizing the last word as he slapped K.O. on the back.

Venomous collapsed to the ground, the wind knocked out of his chest.

“And you’re still a good guy!” Enid met him halfway with a high-five in the air.

“Ah!” Venomous felt something strike him underneath his chin.

“AND YOU STILL HAVE OUR FRIENDSHIP!” Enid and Rad concluded simultaneously, both of them holding K.O. up high proudly.

“Nonononono!” It was too much for Venomous, he was blasted away by a sudden gust of wind. He collided with Boxman with a _thud! _They both got to their feet and looked up as K.O. now clasped hands with Rad and Enid, hopping around in a circle chanting “Friendship! Friendship! Friendship!” over and over again. Venomous didn’t fail to notice tears streaming down K.O.’s face or the large grin that broke out on the boy’s face.

“Grrrrrr!” Boxman began steaming, “I should have known _this _would happen again!”

“Again?!” Venomous looked Boxman straight in the eye, silently demanding a more thorough explanation.

“First day I met the brat, those two stormed Boxmore to save him,” Boxman explained, going over to a wall and began banging his head against it over and over again, “I thought they’d let him have it, but they pulled the same stunt like they did just now! And their friendship just got stronger!”

“The compliments? The supportive words?” Venomous’ eyes widened, “The blast of wind?!”

“All of it!” Boxman nodded, his face turning beet-red.

“LOVE BEAM’S COMING SOON!”

“Not now, Fink!” Venomous stopped Fink with a look.

He looked between his partner and then towards his son and friends. Now that they made it clear K.O. was still one of them, swaying the boy over to his side was going to be harder. And now it looked like he was actually going to have to put some effort into fighting this time around. On the other hand, there was still a chance he could at least extend an olive branch their way and salvage the situation as best as he could.

Before he could continue to dwell on that thought, there was a loud _crash!_ from above. Two simultaneous cries, one masculine and one feminine – oh cob, he was going to get it now – getting closer and closer before he felt two bodies pinning him down to the floor, his helmet drawn close to his chest on reflex. Then he was face to face with a man who – wait, was that El Bow?!

“No one kidnaps my employees and gets away with it!” Huh. It had been so long since he had seen El Bow up close. He must have really hit the gym a lot. A shame he wasn’t wearing that cute mask anymore, helped give off that nerdy persona Venomous was so fond of seeing when he was in POINT.

Another pause, then, “How _dare _you steal Lazerblast’s helmet, you scumbag!”

As El Bow removed the helmet, Enid piped in, her face etched with dread “Sir, that _is _Laserblast!”

El Bow gave the girl a funny look before he started to guffaw, “Nice one, Enid. But I know for a fact that this is Professor Veno…mous…?”

_Annnd_ there it was. The sweating, the shaking, that shy persona. El Bow grabbed the helmet and shoved it over Venomous’ head.

“Uh…”

He removed it again and the expression worsened, like he was going to throw up. “Uh.” Helmet back on. “_Uh…”_ He shoved the helmet back on once more.

Venomous sneered, “Still as sharp as ever, El Bow.”

Carol removed the helmet this time, as El Bow appeared to become catatonic with shock.

“You’re…you’re…” Her face burned red, “_You two-faced jerk!”_

She pulled him up by his collar and threw a punch. Years of knowing her movements allowed Venomous to roll with the punch before slipping out of her grasp, ducking and dodging a flurry of attacks. El Bow seemed to have recovered, as an additional pair of arms kept on trying to trip him up. All the while, Carol continued screaming at him,

“**_Where have you been? How could you leave us like that?! Do you know what you put everyone though after that?!_**”

El Bow also had a few choice words, himself.

“YOU WERE ALIVE THIS ENTIRE TIME?! DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA HOW LONG I THOUGHT IT WAS ALL MY FAULT?! DO YOU KNOW WHAT HAPPENED TO POINT AFTER THAT?! WE THOUGHT YOU WERE SHURNK OR TELEPORTED OR WHATEVER!”

“Explain yourself now!” Carol grabbed ahold of his front again while El Bow restrained him from behind.

Venomous smirked, “Fine, but don’t say I didn’t warn you.”

“He didn’t even say that,” Rad muttered to Enid.

“Zip it, Rad, we’re gonna get a flashback.”

And quite the flashback it was, Venomous thought so himself. He delved into his fall as a hero, starting with where it started. His sense of powerless-ness. Carol looked like her heart was ripped in two as Venomous dismissed her attempts to reassure him. He could drain the power from foes, she could copy them. Now who had the superior powers? And who was she to tell him that he was fine the way he was, having to resort to being a leech and making that helmet of his to compensate in battle? Talking about the lab was a bit awkward, as El Bow and Carol shared a look of utter shock.

Enid, ever the critic, stopped his story to comment, “You built your lab in a _donut shop_?”

Rad chortled, “That was pretty stupid.”

“Why didn’t you put a lock on the door?” Aw great! Now K.O. was joining the peanut gallery!

“Or put a **Closed **sign on it?”

“Or hide your experiments better?”

“Why didn’t you just make the lab in a dump where no one would see you?” Fink added.

“Not the point,” Venomous felt his eyebrow twitching. Even Boxman looked at him with an expression that would have been better on Venomous whenever his partner made a mess of things.

The questions stopped and he talked about Greyman discovering the lab.

“Called it,” Enid smirked. He glared at her and continued.

He told them of the meeting, that El Bow and Carol didn’t bother disputing nor did they stop him when Venomous described Greyman losing his powers from one of the weapons. When he got to the part where Foxtail ordered the destruction of the weapons, El Bow cut him off.

“You were trying to destroy your work?”

“I was trying to _save _it,” Venomous corrected him with a snarl, “Countless months of research down the drain if Foxtail had her way.”

“You left us on sentry duty to cover your tracks!” Carol, ever the aggressor, had the gall to glare daggers at him.

“So, it made you purple instead?” K.O. asked.

“Huh?”

“The experiments,” K.O. clarified, “You took so many that they made you purple?”

“No,” Venomous wished to cob he could skip this part, “One of the containers broke when I tried to move them.”

“The explosion,” Carol gasped.

“That was what you saw,” Venomous nodded, “The fire started and I found my powers gone as well. Another orb, one of my timers, started glowing. I managed to get out in time…”

El Bow looked pale, “We were that close to getting caught in the blast!”

“I had planned to crawl out of the vent when I heard you,” Venomous looked at Carol numbly, “You said I couldn’t have survived the blast. In that moment, I knew everything you told me about my powers was a lie? How could I have served as a hero, after that? As your partner?”

His gaze went towards K.O. and he told himself that there was sand in his eyes, “As a father?”

“I tried to get my powers back for ages. Experiments, tests. But none of them worked.”

Venomous combed a hand through his hair, a smile growing on his face, “But the breakthroughs I made, the market I found in the villains, the creations I made from my failures. They made me realize something. You don’t need powers to _have _power!”

He would have laughed maniacally at this, but the circumstances and the awkwardness of it all was getting to him. Carol, El Bow, Rad, Enid, and K.O. were all together now. He wasn’t going to win this fight, not today.

“I guess you can all go now, live your lives, clap yourselves on the backs if you want,” he waved them off dismissively, “However, there’s something I want…”

K.O. gulped.

“You need to learn of your heritage, son,” Venomous spoke gently. Fink was growling, at whom, he didn’t know. Venomous held out a hand to his son, “I want to start us on a clean slate. Don’t you want to learn about your Daddy?”

“YOU SCUMBAG!” El Bow stepped forward and pushed K.O. behind him, “WE WANT _NOTHING _TO DO WITH YOU!”

“How dare you even ask that?!” Carol joined El Bow’s side and got into an offensive pose.

“If K.O. doesn’t want anything to do with you, then that should be enough!” Enid cracked her knuckles.

“And if you still want to try, you’re gonna have to go through us first!” Rad added as he raised a finger, letting it glow.

K.O. felt purple lightning shroud his arms again, but it didn’t continue to consume him. T.K.O. didn’t try to say anything to him, this was the moment that they were thinking the same thing.

“Okay.”

“HUH?!”

Everyone looked at him like he had lost it, and who knows, maybe K.O. _did _lose it. But…

“I want to know why T.K.O. exists,” he continued, “I need to figure out how to keep him under control, before something bad happens.”

He looked at his mom with pleading eyes, “So can I, Mommy? _Pleeeeease!_”

Mom looked like she wanted to argue, but sighed instead, “I’m with you on this, sweetie.”

“Me too…” Mr. Gar placed a hand on Mom’s shoulder. Then his expression turned stern, “You still need to complete my mission, though.”

“That’s right!” K.O. gasped, then he remembered, “Um…mission failed?”

“What.”

“The deal still happened, so…”

Mr. Gar groaned, “We’ll talk later.”

“Does that mean he can stay here for dinner, then?” Everyone looked at Venomous incredulously. Venomous chuckled weakly, “I’m okay with weekends…”

K.O. looked at his mom and Mr. Gar expectantly. They both nodded, but neither of them looked happy about it. He looked at Rad and Enid, and they looked like they were thinking the same thing.

Enid scowled at Venomous, “You better not hurt him!”

“You have my word,” Venomous raised his hands in compliance.

“Good,” Rad smirked, “Cause we’re gonna hurt _you_ now!”

Venomous suddenly looked nervous.

“Well Peanut, I bet this was a pretty rough day for you,” Carol beckoned K.O. over to her, “You wanna end this on a happy note?”

He nodded furiously.

“Good,” Carol smiled, “Cause it’s Tuesday.”

“That means you can help us clean up this mess,” Mr. Gar added.

“I know just the thing,” K.O. smiled.

A few moments later, Mr. Gar and Carol clasped hands and leaned back as far as they could. Enid stood on her boss’s shoulders and Rad on Carol’s and they leaned towards each other. K.O. dangled in-between his friends, holding Rad and Enid’s spare hands, completing the heart formation.

“BODEGA LOVE FORMATION 2.0 COMPLETE!” K.O. said triumphantly.

“We’re supposed to be scared of _that?_” Venomous gave Fink a funny look, “I know you hate him, but this is ridicu –”

“LOVE BEAM 2.0!”

“What.” Venomous quacked.

A pink aura filled the center of the formation and burst out in a stream towards Venomous, Fink and Boxman. When it reached them, it felt like a strong wind blowing through. Chunks of earth started flying into the air, tears appeared on Venomous’ coat. Fink and Boxman clung to him for dear life, unwittingly dragging him along with them as his feet began to slip and they were blown away, crashing through several floors before leaving Boxmore entirely.

Boxman was the first to notice they were all flying. He shrugged, “Welp, looks like we’re blasting off. Again.”

Fink, on the other hand, was livid.

“I TOLD YOU THEY’D BLAST US WITH A LOVE BEAM!”

“And _I _told you we should have drawn out the reveal,” Boxman smugly crossed his arms at Venomous, “So _there. _I was right.”

“Not not, Boxy…” Venomous pinched the bridge of his nose with all the patience he could muster, resisting the urge to throttle his partner, “Not now…”

Back on the ground, Enid and Rad lowered themselves to the ground and started groaning. Rad began to heave a moment later.

“I told you not to exert yourselves,” Carol gently chided them as she released her grip on Mr. Gar.

“Carol,” Enid began as her face went pale, “If it’s for K.O., you know we’ll be there.”

Meanwhile, Mr. Gar was down on one knee, placing a hand on K.O.’s shoulder, “You alright, son?”

K.O. looked at his hands, “I just can’t believe my dad’s a villain.”

“K.O.,” Mr. Gar lowered his voice so only K.O. could hear, “He might be your father, but he was _never_ your daddy. You don’t owe him anything.”

“Good,” K.O. looked up at him with a determined look, “Because I _want _to be a hero. Just like you.”

Mr. Gar only smiled, thinking to himself that K.O. was already better than him.

“I guess that means Thanksgiving’s gonna be awkward now?” Rad took a moment to ask in-between heaving.

Carol’s expression suddenly became sharp as she came to realize something, “Wait a minute! THAT SLIMEBALL OWES 6-11 YEARS OF CHILD SUPPORT!”

She shook her hand furiously at the exposed roof, “YOU BETTER START SENDING PAYMENTS NOW!”

K.O. laughed and leaned into Mr. Gar’s hug, he didn’t understand a word of what his mom was saying, but everything was alright now. His family was here with him. That was all that mattered.

**Author’s Note: **That’s the end of the main story. What? You thought this was the end of the fic? It technically is, but the next updates are going to be one shots of a sort. Venomous and K.O. really didn’t interact that much. And the show only had two episodes of them “bonding”. I want to fix that here.

Thanks for reading, thank you for your patience, thank you for coming, thank you for staying, thank you for reading this fic!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Official end of the story. Not official end of the fic. Venomous/K.O. bonding time will be happening. Thank you so much for your patience with waiting, I had been busy with my real life to have time to write this.


	5. The First Weekend Pt 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> K.O. and Venomous try out "Father-Son" bonding for the first time

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Let us consider the first four chapters of this fic to be the prologue of KO spending time with his dad on weekends.

“Backpack?”

“Check.”

“Change of clothes?”

“Check.”

“PJs?”

“Check, check.”

K.O. watched his mom and Mr. Gar go through a check list of all his essentials for his first weekend with Professor Venomous. He would have been happy to say that he was excited to spend time with his father, but as Mr. Gar tried to subtly place a bottle of pepper spray into his pack, he couldn’t help but be reminded of how tense everyone was. The shadows under his mother’s eyes told the tale of how much sleep she had the previous night.

“You think there’s enough room in my pack?” K.O. asked with a nervous smile.

His mother glanced at him before continuing to load his pack with several snack bars and toothbrush with a frown. She continued talking to Mr. Gar, who was holding a bottle of pepper spray in one hand.

“How much do you think we can sneak by Lizard Face without him noticing?”

“I think there’s room for a lasersword in here, he’s not going to try looking through his bag if he wants to live to see next year.”

K.O. felt something poking the back of his neck and spun around to see Dendy holding a pair of pincers connected to a monitor.

“His brainwaves appear optimal and there are no signs of any additional interference.” She smiled at the end to seemingly soften the statement, but K.O. still frowned. Ever since they had returned from Boxmore last week, it seemed as if everyone in his circle had been on high alert. Not helping matters was someone muttering that Professor Venomous might have been picking at his brain prior to the rescue, despite K.O. repeatedly insisting that it wasn’t the truth. Dendy had taken it upon herself to give K.O. daily brain scans to check for any signs of nefarious evildoing.

He complied to these annoying check-ups as best as he could, he knew Dendy was just as worried as everyone else was. A small part of him even agreed that she was right to make sure that his head was okay. It wasn’t normal to want to spend the weekend with someone who had been your archnemesis, after all.

“Alright, everything’s in,” K.O.’s mom handed him his backpack, which felt like someone had placed a few bricks inside of it now. And so, all four of them marched out of the house and into the car.

Every so often, Mr. Gar would look over his shoulder as if to remind himself that K.O. was still buckled in. This ritual was repeated every few minutes until Dendy had mentioned in a loud voice that she planted a few trackers on K.O. and his belongings – with K.O.’s permission, of course. After that, the rest of the ride was silent until Boxmore came into sight…

**O.K. K.O. (We’ll Fight To The End!)**

Venomous looked over the guest bed one last time, straightening out the spaceship-print covers to prevent any creases from forming. Satisfied, he exited the guest room and began to walk down the hall. He readjusted his collar a few times, wondering why it felt warmer than usual or if he was wearing it incorrectly for some reason today. He greeted Darrell once, twice, three times in the hall. Boxman was keeping his youngest busy with another big project – not like Boxman. Jr, however – and so he barely had anytime to greet Venomous with anything other than a “Hi, Stepdaddy” before they parted. There was only a brief mention of thanks for the newest present Venomous had given him – receptive nerves wired to his electrical brain so Darrel would be able to experience touch, taste and scent – that Venomous was hoping wouldn’t blow up in his face.

If it wasn’t for his assignment, Venomous was certain that Darrel would have clung to him like a lifeboat in a manner that wouldn’t be unheard of coming from Fink if given the chance. Speaking of which, Venomous realized that he hadn’t actually seen much of her since the morning. It was possible that she might currently be holing herself in her room playing videos game with the volume blaring, but there was no way to be certain. Ever since last week, he barely saw her outside of mealtimes or debriefings.

Almost as an act of pragmatism, Boxman had mysteriously decided to take a break from attacking the Plaza and had instead focused more on investing Billiiam’s payment into improving his robots. This also allowed the funding of several personal projects that Venomous had wanted to continue before his home had been destroyed, albeit accidentally. Productivity had gone up a respectable deal, much to the delight of the investors, especially in Cosma’s case.

Venomous checked his watch, quickening his pace a little as he did so. He told himself that it wasn’t because he was in a hurry to see his son, no, it was just because Boxmore was a large facility and he knew he wouldn’t get anywhere if he didn’t move at a brisk pace.

Stepping outside in the sun only made him tug at his collar more frequently, making note to check the ventilation systems as soon as he could. His eyes scanned the Plaza standing at the opposite end of the road, and then to the streets. He looked down at his watch again – only five minutes before they were expected.

That’s when the car came careering by the curb, stopping several feet short of Venomous’ foot. His eyes flitted to Carol’s at the driver’s seat – she almost looked disappointed for some reason when their eyes met – before he looked over to the backseat. K.O. had several wires connected to his head while the Kappa sitting next to him was holding a small monitor in her hands. She – or he – nodded once to him and K.O. quickly liberated the wires from his body.

He was about to exit the door when El Bow blocked his way, his back turned as he appeared to be saying something to the boy. A moment later, he stepped out of the car and closed the door delicately, though Venomous saw how tight his face was. El Bow marched up to him and they stood face to face, gauging the other critically.

“El Bow,” Venomous’ tone was cool and polite, extending the level of professionalism that he would give to clients or dealers.

“Venomous,” El Bow uttered with a protective growl.

Venomous saw K.O. looking out at them with sweat beginning to bead his brow, a small frown already forming. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, counting to ten as he did, before exhaling and looking at El Bow with a more placid expression.

“I have a list of items for your approval on what we are allowed to do during the weekends,” Venomous pulled out the long sheet of paper from his lab-coat pocket and handed it to El Bow. El Bow accepted it without comment and began to grumble as he examined the list. A few times, his eyebrows rose as he read. Other times, he grumbled something incomprehensible that Venomous was certain was meant to be uttered without small children present.

“I also have a pen you could –” Venomous couldn’t finish his sentence as the proffered pen was snatched from his hand and El Bow already began to cross out the suggestions. When it was handed back to him, Venomous was rather disappointed that the majority of his proposals were denied. He would at least hoped that K.O. would be allowed to enjoy the merits of pelting solicitors with rotten fruit! The pen was handed back to him with the delicacy of a pressure mine.

“Listen up,” El Bow’s tone brokered no argument and Venomous knew who would be the superior one if a fight broke out, “You might have the genetics, but remember that K.O. is _my _son! So, if I hear one bad thing from him that was your fault…”

Venomous chuckled weakly as he tried in vain to swipe the sweat that was forming at his neck. El Bow continued to glower at him until Venomous realized he needed to reply, “You have my word.”

But even as he raised his right hand and placed his left over his heart to show sincerity, El Bow’s hand suddenly latched itself onto his shoulder and tightened.

“I mean it,” El Bow glowered. Venomous could only nod, trying not to sigh in relief when El Bow’s face suddenly became pleasant as he called out to K.O.

“Hey Professor,” K.O. greeted him tentatively, clutching his bag with both hands tightly as if it would grow legs and run off.

“We’ll be picking you up at nine in the morning tomorrow, okay?” Carol’s tone was taut.

K.O. nodded to his mother with a smile. El Bow and the Kappa both gave him brittle smiles as the car drove off, both of them waving farewell as it did.

“Bye, love you!” K.O. called out as the car faded from view. After a few moments, he seemed to remember himself and turned back to Venomous with that same nervous smile he wore back in the car. Venomous returned it with equal vigor and began to guide the boy into Boxmore. He tried not to think too much as K.O.’s back stiffened from the contact.

“I have so much planned for us today,” Venomous began as soon as the door closed behind them. He pulled out the list and began to read through the items, “What’ll be? Learning to make a nuclear power cell? Deconstructing an android and rebuilding it from scratch?” He paused for a moment as he read a suggestion that he knew for a fact wasn’t there a few minutes ago. “Playing…catch…?”

“Um…we could try the last one…?” K.O. chuckled weakly.

Venomous’ smile felt more relaxed, “Brilliant! I’ll go get the net!”

K.O. called out to him before he made it past two paces, “No, that’s not what I meant.” He wringed the handle of his pack as he mulled over his next words. “I meant we… I mean… when you… do you have a baseball?”

Venomous stared at him blankly, unsure of how to respond. Throwing baseballs into windows was one of the items that El Bow had crossed out, but if K.O. wanted to do it so badly, then…

“I-I mean, we’d also need some mitts and maybe matching hats, but I don’t mind if we just have a baseball.”

“…not following…” Venomous cursed himself for saying that out loud. K.O.’s expression morphed into utter shock and exaggerated horror. Venomous thought it would be best to continue. “What do you mean by catch?”

“You mean you…? Oooh!” K.O. suddenly started laughing, and quite loudly in Venomous’ opinion. But it was better than the alternative of dealing with a temper tantrum. _That _would inevitably end in Carol and El Bow going after his blood. When K.O.’s laughter subsided, he adopted what was surely meant to be a serious expression that Venomous thought looked rather adorable. “This is something very important to do! Mr. Gar and I sometimes do it and it’s a lot of fun. Come on, we’re going to the Bodega to get a baseball!”

At this declaration, he suddenly grabbed Venomous by the wrist and started dragging him _back outside_! Venomous dragged his feet against the floor, marveling at his son’s strength as he continued undaunted, trying to figure out how to diffuse the situation.

“We don’t need to go there, I’m sure there’s something we can use from here.” Venomous saw Darrel down the hallway again and was struck by inspiration, “We can use Darrel’s head!”

“Huh?” Darrel looked like a deer caught in headlights at his name and looked more the part at the near-predatory expression Venomous now had plastered on his face as he tried to drag himself over to the robot. K.O. tugged back and Venomous could feel his boots scraping against the floor so hard that grooves were beginning to form.

“Nonsense,” K.O. insisted as he tugged his father out the door and into the open air, marching with purpose towards the Bodega, “We can even grab some lightning nachos while we’re at it!”

“I don’t like nachos,” Venomous feebly protested.

“Maybe fire gauntlets,” K.O.’s eyes lit up as he continued rambling, “Oh, oh! We can grab towels and we can have a picnic just like me, my mom, and Mr. Gar do when we play catch!”

“Help me,” Venomous mouthed to Darrel, who still stood there with the box in his arms, looking at Venomous as if he had never seen him before. Then his face suddenly became pleasant as he dropped the box with a _crash! _and waved cheerfully at him.

“Bye, Stepdaddy, I love you!”

Venomous prayed that Cob would be merciful and strike him down where he stood before he had to enter the Plaza and act _pleasant_ to those heroes.

* * *

**Author’s Note: **Sad that the show is over when I just got into it, but happy to be making this fic! With the new info I have about Venomous thanks to the Q&A session from the creator on Twitter, I am happy with how my interpretation – ie, if he knew K.O. was his son or not – matched the canon rather well. Apparently, Venomous didn’t know about K.O. prior to his debut episode and decided to look into it. I suspect his spit take in “The Big Reveal” along with “That helmet!” were the final pieces to confirm his connection with K.O.

Now to give these two the screentime that Cartoon Network wrongfully stole from them!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the delay, I have work and multiple projects being worked on the same time.
> 
> I hate that the show is over. At least I can try drawing out the whole weekends bit with PV and KO that could have happened. Damn you, Cartoon Network, for cancelling the show and caring more about Teen Titans Go! of all things!
> 
> Hope you all liked the start of part 2 of this story! Don't forget to comment!


	6. The First Weekend Part II

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cob is not merciful on Venomous.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Subscribe and comment!

Cob was not feeling merciful at the moment.

The moment the doors slid open and that _ding-dong!_ bell reverberated in the store; all eyes were on him. Venomous briefly scanned his surroundings, gaging the heroes that were congregating. Most of them, he didn’t recognize. The new generation didn’t concern him that much – seriously, a giant baby was considered a _hero_?! And what about that weird orange creature that followed him around like something out of those puppet shows on television Fink hated so much? – and he didn’t care to identify who they were. The only two that could be bothered to be considered minor threats were Radicles, who had been mopping an aisle not too far away, and Enid, at the register.

Their eyes met his, and Venomous silently counted in his head. _Four. Three. Two. One…_

“PROFESSOR VENOMOUS!” Enid and Radicles shouted in unison. They jumped into the air and landed right in front of him – hm, not too shabby – and got into aggressive crouches.

“Hey Rad! Hiya Enid!”

Both of the heroes looked down at K.O., who was waving at them with a bright expression on his face. Seeing that a fight wasn’t going to break out, the rest of the heroes in the store continued onto their businesses, though Venomous didn’t miss the looks of sheer terror he was getting from the bunny child or the broccoli boy. Good, he smirked, let them fear him at a young age. He noticed Radicles and Enid sharing a look with each other before they started talking. Loudly.

“Wow, K.O.!” Radicles patted the boy on the head affectionately – and Venomous denied that he was sulking over how _his _son was smiling from the contact that the teenage boy was giving. Radicles continued in a booming tone. “You caught a bad guy! I guess you came here to get some emergency handcuffs, RIGHT?”

Venomous was surprised that no one else noticed the obvious wink Radicles was giving to K.O.

K.O. stared blankly at his friend, who had to wink _several _times before his face dawned in realization. “Oh _yeeeeah!_ That’s right! I caught a bad guy! The very well-known Professor Venomous, who is NOT here on his own free will –”

It was ironic how true that last statement was, Venomous thought.

“– and is _not _my friend, even though we are holding hands!” K.O. emphasized the last bit by gripping Venomous’ wrist so tight that the man actually lost all feeling in his hand for a few moments. He suspected there would be bruising in a few hours. “And I am simply here to purchase something to help…uh…what’s that word again? I think it starts with a K…”

“Woah, K.O.!” Enid waved her hands frantically. “I’m down for dark, but not too dark. And there are children present.”

“It starts with the letter C,” Radicles whispered loudly to K.O. Venomous rolled his eyes, he was amazed that heroes had survived this long.

“Right, letter C…” K.O. let go of Venomous’ hand and touched his own chin thoughtfully, “First sound ‘kah’…or was it ‘ko’. How we put away bad guys… how Mommy puts stuff back in the fridge…”

“Contain?” Venomous suggested, trying not to huff in frustration.

“That’s it!” K.O. agreed and pointed back at Venomous with a scowl and continued in what Venomous was now considering the worst performance ever delivered in public. And he had seen plenty of vampire movies to compare that too. “_I _am here to buy something to help contain you, foul villain! And throw you into the slammer!”

There were loud cheers from the store now, and the idiots started applauding. It would have been more effective if Venomous had already been handcuffed or something of the sort. He glared at the crowd forming and the cheering ceased almost instantaneously.

“What you need, young hero that I have never seen before in my life,” Enid continued in a tone that matched Radicles’ a minute or so ago, marching back to the register with a jaunty expression, “is a pair of handcuffs! On the house!”

She loudly slapped a pair of ordinary looking handcuffs onto the countertop, but Venomous noticed the logo on it that said: **Electro-Cuffs! Taser and Handcuffs have finally fused! Taser sold separately.** Sparks flew out of the handcuffs and Venomous began to rub his wrists with dread.

“Thank you store clerk!” K.O. accepted the handcuffs with a smile and leaned against the countertop, “On an unrelated note, I would like to purchase your finest balls for…ball stuff! And hitting unsuspecting bad guys with.”

Radicles smirked, “I think we have just the thing. Hold on a sec.”

The crowd didn’t disperse until K.O. forced Venomous into the handcuffs, much to his own humiliation. He was rewarded for his compliance with a _zap!_ that rattled his bones and left an oddly pleasant tingle. Perhaps it was meant for pranking or those with weak constitutions. He listened to Enid prattle with K.O. for a few minutes, stopping once in a while to handle a customer. At one point, a man-looking bird started over to the counter, much to Enid’s dread, but scampered away at the sight of Venomous. He could have sworn he saw her smiling at him a little after that, and that smile seemed to grow malicious when Rad returned with his arms full of baseballs.

“These just came in,” he said vaguely, “You’re gonna love em.”

“Wow-wee!” K.O.’s eyes lit up, possibly determining how much fun he could get out of them – or perhaps thinking of those times he played “catch” with El Bow, Venomous thought with a snarl – before he dug into his pockets. “How much – ?”

“Also on the house,” Radicles waved him off dismissively.

“That’s bad for business, you know.” Everyone stared at Venomous as though he had sprouted a second head. His eyes narrowed, “How is your – _zap!_ – boss going to handle you giving away – _zip! _– merchandise without a single Techno to show for it?”

“Easy,” Radicles placed the baseballs into a paper bag and handed it off to K.O. “We’ll just say it was meant for you and Mr. Gar won’t mind at all.”

“Uh, I still think I should pay,” K.O. mumbled as he accepted the bag with both hands, attempting to find a way to balance his supplies in one hand as he rummaged his pockets for his wallet.

“Use _my _wallet,” Venomous suggested with a sigh. K.O. looked at him hesitantly. Venomous merely smiled, “It’s – _zap! –_ in my lab coat.”

K.O. took a step forward before Radicles stepped in front of him and began to search Venomous’ coat himself, as if he would be dumb enough to booby trap his own personal items for his son to find after El Bow made it clear what fate would befall him if anything happened. Radicles pulled out the wallet – black leather with a silver spine – and grinned when he found one of Venomous’ _most valuable and important credit cards!_

He opened his mouth to protest but decided against it at the looks he was receiving. With his luck, Radicles and Enid would make up some lies to feed to Carol and El Bow and then sit back to watch the fireworks.

“The pin is my birthday,” he grumbled.

“Just like me!” K.O. smiled. It faded a moment later when he realized something. “When _is _your birthday?”

**You Are My Best Friend (LET’S BE HEROES!)**

K.O. hummed off-tune as he and Professor Venomous exited the Bodega a few minutes later. It was silly how the man had to whisper the pin into K.O.’s ear like that, there was nothing wrong with knowing when someone’s birthday was.

“Hey, K.O.” Venomous began as they walked back to Boxmore. “Do you think – _zip! _– you could – _zap! _AH! – uncuff me – _zop! _OW! – now?!” His expression had become harried at the end of his request, and K.O. couldn’t blame him. No one could really pull off the barbequed look. Thank Cob that went out of style in eleven minutes.

“Okay, let me just see those handcuffs – no, Professor, I got this! – I just need the key… wait a minute, I don’t have a key – hey, don’t give me that look! I forgot! – maybe if I just – _zap! _OW! – alright, bad idea. What if I – _zap! _no, that’s making it worse – what if I just – _zap! _sorry! – no maybe this will – _zap! _wrong again – maybe it I just –”

“JUST USE YOUR STRENGTH ON IT!” Venomous’s eye was twitching as he smoldered.

“Duh, why didn’t I think of that?” K.O. grabbed Venomous’ hands and pulled them in opposite directions. There was a _zap! _that both of them felt and then the chain snapped. The cuffs fell apart a moment later and dropped to the ground. Venomous rubbed his wrists tentatively, as if he would be engulfed by electricity again, mumbling incoherently about possible brain damage.

He looked at K.O. with a disgruntled expression after he was finished and said, “Great, we got the baseballs you wanted. Now what?”

“Well,” K.O. readjusted his hold on the paper bag, “Mr. Gar, my mom, and I go to the woods for a picnic and after we finish eating, Mr. Gar and I toss the ball back and forth. To the woods!” K.O. proceeded to march off.

“That’s it?” Venomous didn’t move from his spot. “We just toss it back and forth? That’s inane!”

“It’s not insane, it’s fun,” K.O. insisted, not looking back.

“I said _inane_ not _insane_!”

A short walk later, K.O. found the familiar grounds by the pond. It felt weird bringing Professor Venomous to this spot, as if he were trespassing on sacred grounds. It reminded him of Shadowy Figure, and of the day he brought out T.K.O. for the first time. Venomous was looking around with mild interest, a strange look of nostalgia had appeared on his face before it quickly vanished.

“You know this place, Professor?” K.O. asked curiously.

“Not really,” Venomous admitted, “It just feels…nice, for some reason.”

“When I was little; Mom would take me here and we’d meditate after lunch. One time, she told me that the path to greatness was long and hard and sometimes boring, but the important thing was to stay focused.”

“Did she now?” Venomous didn’t sound all that impressed.

K.O. dropped the paper bag and pulled out a baseball, “Alright, then. So, what we do is we step back away from each other.”

Venomous grumbled, but he took several paces back as instructed. K.O. mirrored the action.

“Then I throw the ball at you and you try to catch it,” K.O. demonstrated as he flung the baseball as hard as he could at Venomous. Venomous had a hand in the air, ready to catch the ball as it flew at him. And then it vanished in a blur of blue light. Venomous and K.O. stared at each other in shock, before the ball reappeared cloaked in blue flames and collided with Venomous’ face.

“Oh my gosh, are you alright?!” K.O. ran over to Venomous with frantic worry etched on his face.

“I was hit in the face by a flaming baseball, what do _you _think?!” Venomous held a hand over his eye as he accepted K.O.’s outstretched hand.

“Ok, we’re not using that ball again,” K.O. declared. He rushed back to the bag and pulled out another baseball. He got into a stance, wound his arm up, and threw it at Venomous with all his might. Venomous only had time to cry out in protest before the ball vanished in a blue blur and reappeared as a fiery comet that struck him in the other eye.

Birds scattered from their trees barely a few moments later from the noise.

K.O. took out another baseball from the bag and examined it, “That’s weird, what’s with these balls?”

“Try throwing it more _gently_,” Venomous had emphasized on the last word.

K.O. shrugged and lightly threw it underhand. The ball soared through the air and vanished. K.O. expected it to rematerialize and soar at a higher speed covered in the blue flames, so he was naturally startled when he head Venomous screaming in agony again as he faceplanted to the ground, the baseball sitting on his back. He mustered enough strength to take the ball off his back and toss it away, before it vanished and appeared in front of K.O., who instinctively ducked just in time. Another cry of pain informed him where the ball landed.

“What’s with these things?!” K.O. took out a fourth one from the bag with a bewildered expression and noticed words engraved onto them: **Monster Ball; the ball to throw at your worst enemy.**

“Yikes!” K.O. dropped the ball immediately and backed away from it, “I gotta get rid of these, now!”

Without thinking, he started flinging the rest of the balls as far as he could towards the depths of the woods while Venomous watched with dread. As he flung the last ball into the clearing, K.O. turned back to the professor with a nervous chuckle.

“I think we’ve had enough for today, huh?”

“K.O.” Venomous pinned him with his expression, “You realize what you just threw, right?”

“Yeah, I threw away the deadly…balls…” K.O.’s expression suddenly became still, “And…they’ll be hitting you…in three…two…RUN!” K.O. suddenly grabbed Venomous, flung him over his shoulder and ran as fast as he could out of the forest as a stampede of blue flames came darting after them like hunting dogs, several of them bouncing off trees as they hit their target.

“I think…” Venomous said when they had both returned to Boxmore, “That I _really _hate your version of catch.”

He was sitting on a sofa with several ice packs covering his body. Fink stood close by like a silent guardian, glaring at K.O. as if he would burst into flames if she persisted long and hard enough. Boxman was currently examining Venomous’ bruised eyes with a tenderness K.O. recognized in his mother whenever he fell ill.

“I _told _you we should have drawn out the reveal, PV,” Boxman began to apply some cream around his partner’s face. He shook his head, “I wanted to take it slow, but you never listen, do you?”

“If you bring it up one more time, I’m going to find some of those blasted baseballs and throw them in _your_ direction,” Venomous growled. Boxman only laughed in response. “I mean it!”

“PV,” Boxman smiled, “You know you don’t mean that.”

Venomous scowled in response. K.O. rubbed his arm methodically, the action only mildly soothing. He was feeling several different things at once. He didn’t want to hurt Professor Venomous to bring him into his current state. But there was a small part of him – much of it was certainly from him and not from T.K.O. – that felt that it was a small taste of the villain’s own medicine for all the trouble he caused K.O. and his friends. And seeing how Fink and Boxman were looking over Venomous – Fink as the protector and Boxman as the healer – made K.O. think of how he would feel if his mother, Mr. Gar, Rad, Enid or Dendy were seriously hurt. He would have wanted to pulverize whoever was responsible. He certainly would have pulverized P.O.I.N.T. during their hostile takeover of the Plaza if his mother had given him the chance.

Even though what had happened in the woods was a complete and utter accident, K.O. felt that he was getting off light with two of his enemies. Fink certainly looked like she was a hairline away from lunging at him. Boxman simply ignored him and focused all of his energies into nursing Venomous.

“Look, I –” K.O. began, but Boxman suddenly faced him with a ferocious expression contrasting his almost motherly one given to Venomous.

“Listen, you Plaza _punk!_” Boxman began to march towards K.O., his face turning red. K.O. kept a safe distance between himself and Boxman as best as he could until he hit the wall. Boxman poked him hard in the chest. “The only reason I’m not throwing you in the incinerator like my robot children isn’t just because you’re organic and your mother would cook me if I did! It’s because _he _–” He pointed back at Venomous. “– wants to spend time with you! And you repay his kindness by throwing _baseballs at him?!_”

“I, uh, didn’t really know they would do that,” K.O. whimpered.

That answer didn’t seem to satisfy Boxman in the slightest, and he opened his mouth to most likely tell K.O. what he thought of his excuse, when Venomous spoke up, “Boxman, it wasn’t his fault.”

Boxman looked back at Venomous incredulously but didn’t comment any further. He went back to the sofa and continued applying the cream to Venomous again, though his expression was taut with barely contained rage.

“Why don’t you go back to your room, K.O.?” Venomous grunted as Boxman massaged a rather ugly bruise on his back. “We’ll call you for dinner.”

K.O. barely nodded, happy for an excuse to leave the room, and nearly broke into a run when he reached the hallway. He looked over his shoulder to see if Fink decided to leave her guard to chase after him away from watchful eyes, but no one came after him. He sighed and slinked down to the floor. The weekend was surely a disaster and it wasn’t even dinnertime yet. He wasn’t sure how he was going to manage doing this each week.

Selfish. He didn’t agree to come over to Boxmore for the chance to bond with his father. He came over because he wanted to understand how to control the villain in his blood, and how to maintain T.K.O. more properly.

_A drawing with a tear-streaked boy surrounded by fire. _I can’t help it _was written at the bottom._

What if he was going about this the wrong way?

“What are you doing here?” K.O. looked up, surprised at how calm Darrel was near him. Come to think of it, he never actually saw Darrel looking pleasant all that much. Usually maniacal, violent, or childish. Or any combination of the three.

“I was just…testing the floor,” K.O. invented, “Seeing how well you could slide on it.”

He smiled at the end. Darrel seemed to take that into consideration before he suddenly joined him on the floor.

“Race you!” And then Darrel was pushing himself across the floor on his mechanical rear, giggling madly as he slid at least twenty feet. He stopped giggling when he noticed K.O. wasn’t following and looked back.

“Aren’t you gonna race me?” He asked with a pout.

K.O. considered that for a moment, before he pushed himself off the wall with his feet and slide past Darrel by several inches. Darrel smiled and began laughing again as he slid across the floor again, K.O. joining him a moment later.

* * *

“Do you hear something?” Venomous lifted himself from the sofa and hissed in pain.

“Darrel!” Boxman snarled. “I told him that the floors are _not meant for sliding!”_

“I hear someone else,” Venomous paused and preened his ear before listening again. “Is that…K.O.?” He froze for a moment before he chuckled. “Well, at least those two are getting along.”

Boxman sighed heavily, “Well, as long as they don’t wreck anything, I’m sure I’ll be –”

CRASH!

Venomous and Boxman looked at each other for a moment before they both bolted out the door.

“BOYS!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you found my shout out in the catch scene. K.O. now realizes that the whole bonding with his villain dad isn't going to be as easy as he had thought (although he agreed to coming over for more selfish reasons rather than a desire to know his father).  
Please comment and subscribe below!


	7. The Day After

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I apologize for the delay. I meant to post this last week.

The next afternoon, K.O. was in the backroom of Gar’s Bodega with Rad and Enid. He was finding different tasks to occupy himself with to hold off from the dreaded questions that he knew his friends were tempted to ask. Eventually, he was down to sweeping the floor until he couldn’t find a fleck of dust out of place.

“Was it really bad?”

“Huh?” K.O. looked up from the broom to stare at Enid.

“Staying over at Boxmore,” Enid explained, taking the broom away from him, “Was it awful?”

K.O. rubbed his hands together as he tried to work together the best response. His lack of an immediate answer had an effect on Rad and Enid, who both exchanged a look with one another with deepening frowns.

“It wasn’t…bad, but it wasn’t great,” K.O. decided.

“Was it because of the Monster Balls we gave you?” Rad asked. K.O. could have sworn there was an edge of dreading guilt in his question.

“Sort of,” K.O. admitted without any bitterness, “Professor Venomous got hurt and Boxman got mad at me, but Venomous wasn’t and we all had takeout from this fancy Chinese place for dinner. Well, the robots didn’t, but I think Darrell was trying to smell it. And he got into a food fight with Fink. Then I went to bed the same time I always do with my mommy.”

“Anything else happen?” Rad’s voice went an octave higher than he intended.

“Well, Professor Venomous set up the guest room with nice blankets with these really cool prints and I think he was trying to slip some weird gloves like Fink had into my bag, but Mommy caught him and gave him a funny look. Other than that, I guess it was alright.”

Enid let out a breath that she had no idea she was holding in.

“I just think that going over there is going to be dangerous. On like, physical and emotional levels,” Rad moved over several boxes left over from the daily delivery with his telekinesis into nearby shelves.

“Dangerous?”

Rad gave him a funny look, “Dude, he’s like, your dad and all. And if it were a movie, I’d be all like ‘_Yeah! Let them get to know each other! Maybe he’s not so bad!’_ But, you gotta remember he’s done some pretty lousy stuff to us in the past.”

“He can’t be that bad,” K.O. shrugged, “He was pretty decent when I was over there yesterday.”

“You’re telling me he actually apologized?” Enid asked, disbelief etched in her voice.

“What?”

“Apologized,” Enid repeated, but not unkindly, “For, you know; attacking us with that gas, making Rad sick, firing us out of that pie cannon, trapping us and killing goop clones of ourselves in front of us and telling us he wanted to dissect us?”

K.O. tried to formulate an answer but found that he could not bring himself to open his mouth. Enid sighed and gently placed a hand on his shoulder.

“Want to know what mission we did yesterday?”

K.O.’s eyes brightened immensely, and Enid smiled, enthralling him with the story of how she and Rad were sent on a rescue mission that lead them to meeting a tribe of Galaxy Truffles. As she described the imminent fight between them and the Truffles for survival, K.O. would cut in and ask questions about the fungi creatures and if their leader was doing alright since he last saw her. As the story came close to its conclusion, however, the alarms in the Bodega went off and the lights flashed red.

“An attack. _Finally!_” Rad punched his fist in the air triumphantly, before he caught the looks on Enid and K.O.’s faces and amended, “I mean, oh no, the Plaza’s under attack…”

Enid rolled her eyes and K.O. simply laughed. Enid took a hold of K.O. and Rad’s hands and summoned a cloak of shade around their bodies. They all melted into the floor and slithered out until they reached the entrance. When they all returned to their proper sizes, all three of them got into fighting stances and waited.

The sky darkened and a violet portal opened up, dropping a large box labeled **VM** on the front. When it crashed to the ground, all sides of the box collapsed. When the dust settled, K.O. saw Professor Venomous standing alone with his arms crossed and a relaxed posture on his face.

When the professor caught sight of him, he simply nodded his way, “Hello K.O. Nice day we’re having, isn’t it?”

“Meh,” Rad shrugged, “I prefer it rainy.”

Enid’s stance became tighter, “What kind of freak experiment did you pull from the lab this time, Venomous?”

“Nothing too major, I hope,” Venomous smirked, “I want to consider this to be a friendly visit.”

K.O. lowered his fists and stared, trying to gauge the meaning behind those words. When the professor reached into his lab coat pocket, K.O. raised his arm up in anticipation firing a Power Fist. So, when Venomous removed his coat and revealed a gray and silver striped baseball vest with matching shorts and a cap to boot and a baseball in his hand that he tossed up in the air a few times. K.O. had to admit that the change was impressive, but where on earth did the cap come from?

The three heroes barely had any time to think about the change in appearance when Venomous snapped his fingers and another portal appeared from the sky, expelling out another box much larger than the one that Venomous himself had came in. When the dust settled once more, he was joined by his partner, Boxman as well as the other robot minions and Fink. They were all dressed in similar baseball attire.

“Are any of you interested in a game of baseball?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sadly, this is a teaser. But it's also pretty important to the story, too, later on.
> 
> Don't forget to comment and subscribe!


	8. The Game

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Is anyone still reading this? It just feels like I'm writing to an invisible audience right now.

“Baseball?” Enid repeated in disbelief.

“WHAT IS THE MEANING OF THIS?!” A voice boomed from behind the three heroes.

They all turned to see Mr. Gar marching out to stand by their side, facing all of Boxmore in front of them. His sunglasses drooped as his jaw went slack with shock.

“W-w-what is this?” He asked no one in particular.

“This,” Venomous replied in a condescending tone, holding up the baseball, “is a game of baseball. And we’re challenging the Plaza today. Right now.”

“Huh?” K.O. scratched his head and did a quick headcount, “But there’s only four of us and...uh...lot’s of you!”

“I said Plaza, not Bodega, little K.O.”

K.O. wasn’t sure why, but he bared his teeth at Venomous in response. This proved to be the appropriate response, as Mr. Gar was giving him one of those oh-so wonderful ‘great hustle out there, kiddo’ looks that always made K.O. feel all fuzzy inside.

“Why do you want to challenge us to a game of baseball?” Enid raised an eyebrow questioningly.

“Why not?” Venomous didn’t look fazed by the lackluster reception he was getting. In fact, his smirk seemed to grow bigger. “Great weather, trying something different, plenty of baseballs to put to use…”

As he trailed off, K.O. looked closer at the baseball that Venomous was tossing in his hands playfully. Uh oh…

“Meh, I’m going back inside,” Enid turned around and started walking back into the Bodega, most likely thinking of what kind of music she was going to play to drown out what she referred to as ‘the idiocy noise’. She was almost at the door when Darrell called out to her.

“WHAT’S THE MATTER, LOSER? _CHICKEN_?!”

Fink followed up with a reasonably good chicken impression, flailing her arms wildly as Darrell tittered at his own wit. The effect was immediate; Enid stood ramrod in place as the taunting grew louder and more exaggerated. Shannon added to the noise with her own unique taunts – K.O. was surprised that she was allowed to say _that _word out loud – and chicken impressions. Enid’s head slowly craned back and K.O. felt himself shiver despite the pleasant weather. She was looking at the Boxmore robots and Fink as though she had developed a ninjutsu that could induce death by eye contact.

“You’re on,” she gravely whispered. Mr. Gar put a hand on her shoulder and Enid looked up with a tight grin. The eye contact was brief, but when it broke, Mr. Gar was looking directly at Venomous with that same stink eye.

“We’ll meet you in an hour with our team.”

“In the park?” The way Venomous suggested this didn’t sound like he would have accepted another location.

“Bring your A-game with you,” Mr. Gar’s tone was brisk and formal.

“It’s a date,” Venomous chuckled before he caught Boxman’s aghast look and quickly added, “In the platonic sense of course!”

“What about a date?”

“Oh cob,” Venomous withered a little at the new voice. K.O. wasn’t sure why, but it seemed like every time that his mother and Professor Venomous saw each other, it would always seem like the worst thing imaginable for either of them to do. It was difficult for him to understand; weren’t they dating back when Professor Venomous was Laserblast and in P.O.I.N.T.? Sure, there was the whole letting his mommy think that Laserblast had been shrunk or teleported or whatever, but couldn’t they just get along like any other former couples would? Rad and Enid were great examples and they’re the best of friends.

“Mommy!” K.O. called out to his mother as she jogged out of the Dojo.

“I heard something about a date and something about it being platonic,” his mother scratched her head, “Did I miss someth – ?”

She caught sight of all of Boxmore in their baseball attire and Venomous seemed to shrink as their eyes met. Mommy just sighed. “Let me guess.” She said. “They want to challenge us to a ‘friendly’ game of baseball.”

Everyone, even the ones from Boxmore, nodded in confirmation.

Mommy’s eyes lit up, like she was leading a workout, and pumped her fist in the air declaring, “Then we’ll show those villains whose boss!”

“Then that makes us,” K.O. did a quick headcount of everyone again, “five heroes versus lots of Boxmore.”

“Perhaps I could be of assistance?” A familiar beret wearing Kappa exited the Bodega at that moment. Somewhere in the background, children could be heard cheering.

“DENDY!” K.O. and the others said simultaneously. Mr. Gar added a “How did you get into my store?” at the end.

“That makes six,” Dendy adjusted her glasses, “Baseball is traditionally played with nine players on each team. I suggest we collect three more volunteers before our allotted hour is up.”

**OK K.O. (LET’S BE HEROES!)**

Everyone from Boxmore shared looks with one another. Without another word, they all huddled together, Fink making a point of making sure she was right next to her boss in the circle. Boxman took Venomous’ unoccupied side.

“Quick,” Boxman whispered loudly, “Someone do a head count.”

“I counted nine,” Venomous looked over at everyone, including Fink.

“Hey, wait a minute! I’m not gonna get dirty throwing balls in the heat!” Fink protested.

“There’s an ice cream sundae for you afterwards if you do this.”

Fink paused at the offer and then huffed, “Fine. But I’m not gonna like it!”

“Are we really going to be playing baseball for _fun_, Stepfather?” Raymond looked at Venomous incredulously.

“Don’t worry,” Venomous sneered, “This is all part of the plan.”

“I want to be cheerleader,” Shannon said in a bored tone.

“You’re playing baseball and you’re gonna like it!” Boxman snapped.

“Hey, I just thought of something,” Darrell looked thoughtful, “Mikayla’s playing too, but she doesn’t have opposable thumbs. How do we work around it?”

“Mikayla!” Mikayla hissed at her brother.

“Oh yeah, I forgot about that,” Darrell smiled, satisfied with the answer.

“I am Jethro!” Jethro added.

“Does anyone even understand what he’s saying?” Fink looked at the small blue robot funnily.

“Not a syllable,” Ernesto replied cheerfully.

“I pretend he’s complimenting my looks,” Raymond said pridefully.

“But what about that other Jethr – OH!” Darrell rubbed his stomach while Shannon glared at him, putting a finger to her lips while Boxman looked at them suspiciously.

“Father, are you and Stepfather also playing?”

“Of course not!” Boxman exclaimed. Venomous nodded vigorously in agreement.

“Hey, wait a minute, how come _I_ have to play but Boss and Box Boss don’t have to?!”

“Because you’re athletic and energetic,” Venomous explained patiently. “Boxman and I are older and have to be the coaches.”

“That makes us two players short, then.” Shannon rolled her eyes.

“Don’t worry,” Boxman smiled nastily, “We’ll find two more to rope in.”

**OK K.O. (Let’s Start the Show!)**

Searching for three more players wasn’t as tricky as K.O. thought it would be. Red Action eagerly accepted, but her eyes never left Enid as she talked to Mr. Gar. A Real Magic Skeleton as well as his best friend and coworker, Brandon, also agreed not long after. K.O. had a feeling that they were simply joining simply to get out of work.

He didn’t mind them but considering how often they helped out whenever the Plaza was in trouble, it wasn’t hard for him to think of them simply being benchwarmers. And then, Beardo overheard them recruiting Brandon and offered to help them as he was on his break.

“We appreciate the offer, Beardo,” Mr. Gar nodded to the blue goblin politely, “But that would bring us up to ten. We can’t have ten players.”

“Perhaps you could use a coach of some sort, then?” Beardo suggested, “Someone who would be willing to lead this team to victory.”

“I vote for Mr. Gar!” Rad’s hand shot into the air almost as fast as Enid’s and K.O.’s.

“I second the notion,” Enid added. K.O. nodded fervently in agreement.

“I wouldn’t mind you leading us,” Brandon smiled pleasantly. He popped a chip into his mouth and continued, “I’m not good for tactics.”

“Come on, Gene!” K.O.’s mother gently nudged Mr. Gar, who proceeded to burn rosy-red around the face. “No one could do it better than you!”

“Oh, alright!” Mr. Gar conceded. His face went a shade darker as everyone cheered.

“Now that we are in agreement,” Dendy pulled a tablet out of her backpack and pressed a button. A projected image of a baseball field appeared in front of them. Dendy continued, “I suggest we discuss strategy.”

K.O. “hmphed” in agreement, “You’re right, Dendy. What ideas do you have to beat Boxmore?”

“Oh, so _that’s_ our opponent?” Beardo raised an eyebrow and shrugged, “Must be a slow week for them.”

“In regard to ideas I might have, K.O.,” Dendy’s face turned almost as red as Mr. Gar’s was the more she spoke, “I…have none. I have never played baseball before. I would appreciate quick lessons before our allotted time is up.”

**O.K. K.O. (LET’S BE HEROES!)**

When the heroes arrived at the park nearly an hour later, they found a large box waiting for them. Attached to it was a note that Mr. Gar took with the delicacy of handling a pressure mine.

_Dear Bodega Losers, _it read, _if you are reading this, then you will have discovered the large box attached to it. If there is no box attached to this, then Darrell will be thrown into the incinerator and we will provide a refund with the letter as proof of purchase._

_Inside are your uniforms for today’s match. And before you ask, no, we did not have Ernesto stalk you like creeps to see who you brought with you so we would get proper measurements. Just saying. Enjoy losing your pride in a battle of balls! _

_HA HA HA HA HA HA! _

_Wait, did that get written into this letter, too? Darrell, I TOLD YOU TO NOT TRASNSCRIBE EVERY SINGLE WORD I SAID!_

_It’s alright, Boxman, I’m sure no one will notice this. Fink, stop writing the letter too, we’re done._

At the end of the letter, the initials **PV **and **BM **were stamped in purple wax.

“You know, it’s kind of nice that they put in the effort to not stalk us and get us uniforms with our exact measurements,” A Real Magic Skeleton said as he opened the box and pulled out the first uniform on top, “Makes me really think Boxman’s turning around.”

Rad and Enid both rolled their eyes at this.

K.O. had to admit, the uniforms didn’t look too shabby. Periwinkle blue with the Lakewood Plaza logo stamped in the middle in yellow lettering on a white background worked pretty well. There were even matching baseball caps, much to his delight. When they were finished changing – Enid, Red Action, Dendy and Mommy insisted they change in the nearby restrooms – K.O. looked at Mr. Gar, and turned his own cap around to match his boss.

“Well lookie here. You babies ready to lose?” The high-pitched whine of Fink’s voice even made Brandon and A Real Magic Skeleton turn their heads. Fink was standing by herself with a baseball bat slung over her shoulder, smug and confident etched in her posture.

“Who’s the rat girl?” Brandon whispered loudly. Fink stuck her tongue out at him in response.

“Professor Venomous’ hench-rat thingy, Fink,” K.O. growled, “She’ll stomp on your cupcakes and play videos game afterwards and call you a momma’s boy like it’s a bad thing. Even though it’s not!”

Brandon took that into consideration and then checked his pockets in case Fink decided to crush the snacks he had stored in them. A Real Magic Skeleton shook his head at this, though he stared at Fink as if daring her to mess with his friend’s food.

“She stepped on one of your cupcakes?” Mommy asked K.O. He didn’t miss the hurt tone in her voice over how one of her hand-crafted treats made with love and care was wasted in a petty act of cruelty.

“I’m over it now,” K.O. smiled at her broadly, “I just thought they should know.”

Mommy looked a little better, though she was starting to look at Fink a bit more sternly.

“Doesn’t look that threatening to me,” Red Action eyed Fink suspiciously, “So where’s this Venomous guy that she works for?”

“Boss is running late cause Box Boss messed something up again.” Fink explained with an eye roll.

Right as she said this, a large group slowly came up behind her. The glare of the sun made it hard for K.O. to make out who they were, but when he heard Boxman’s voice, he bared his teeth on instinct. There were two additional voices overlapping with Boxman’s that somehow managed to sound more belligerent than the villain himself.

“No way…” Rad muttered quietly as the voices grew closer. K.O. was about to ask his friend what he meant by that, but as the group from Boxmore came closer, he had to rub his eyes at what he was seeing.

The first one he recognized could be barely called a torso that was dyed orange, with two large arms that dragged against the dirt. Eyes poked out where a head was typically placed and they didn’t seem to be that focused, but that didn’t stop him from simply arguing with Boxman along with his companion. The companion would be better described as an infant who had a growth spurt only with his limbs. A football helmet covered most of his red hair while purple shoulder pads, blue boots and a diaper completed his outfit.

Bell Beefer and Mega Football Baby were as heroic as K.O. was intentionally malicious. Somehow, seeing them with Boxmore made more sense that having them hang out around the Plaza.

“I told you we aren’t interested, now stop bugging us you lame losers!” Mega Football Baby shouted at Boxmore, going puce in the face.

“And _I _told you that you’re be playing on our team or else we’ll destroy you!” Boxman shouted back.

“Uh…what are we doin’ again?” Bell Beefer’s eyes were glazed over. Mega Football Baby cuffed him from behind and the eyes became focused again.

“We were supposed ta be playing a football game!” Mega Football Baby kept his eyes on Boxman as he said this. “But _these_ creeps say different!”

“Look, we’ve gone over this at least three times with you idiots,” Raymond ignored the angry protests from the two, “We’re two people short and you two know a bit about sports. You help us and we help you in return. Deal?”

“You’re villains!” Mega Football Baby glared at Raymond, “Why would we help you?!”

“Word on the street is you two had a bit of a falling out with a compadre recently,” Raymond said slyly. Rad gritted his teeth as Raymond eyed him, “You help us with one teensy game, and I’ll be more than happy to show your friend the error of his ways.”

Bell Beefer and Mega Football Baby took this into consideration for a moment before they cried out, “Deal!” and shook hands with Raymond. Rad looked like he wanted to use Enid’s shadow ninjutsu and slink out of sight where his former two friends finally noticed him standing there.

“Hey, look! It’s Rad!” Bell Beefer pointed. “What’re you doing over there?”

“Playing…baseball…” Rad mumbled.

“With those weenies!?” Mega Football Baby looked ready to burst. An uncharacteristic growl from Dendy only made Mega Football Baby’s expression worsen until he started howling with laughter. Bell Beefer joined him a few moments later.

“Children,” Beardo shook his head forlornly, “Some of them are fluffy bunnies. Some of them are hawks. Some of them are tough. And some of them are simply a weed that wasn’t plucked.”

Enid placed a hand on Rad’s shoulder as his expression darkened at the mocking laughter. “Rad, don’t listen to them. They’re not worth –”

Rad yanked Enid’s hand off and he growled, “Let’s kick their butts!”

**OK K.O. (LET’S BE HEROES!)**

El Bow met Venomous and Boxman at the center of the field. Neither side was showing any sign of weakness; to do so would be foolish in front of the enemy.

“What’s your angle with all this?” El Bow growled.

Venomous merely smiled, “Can’t two neighboring businesses have a friendly game of baseball once in a while?”

“They could,” El Bow admitted before he added, “except I seem to recall you sending your robots to attack us almost every day.”

“Simply friendly visits from my beloved children,” Venomous had to fight down a snicker at how serene Boxman was sounding. If his intention was to rile up El Bow before the game, then it was a mission accomplished.

“You mean blasting shoppers and stores is considered friendly?” El Bow crossed his arms.

“You know how children are,” Boxman said dismissively, “My children don’t have great social skills.”

“That’s why we encouraged them to try a different approach,” Venomous added. He wasn’t as successful in fighting down a snicker this time and had to hide it with a cough. He was almost hoping that El Bow would stop with the formalities and explode at the both of them.

Almost.

“Are there any wagers to this?” El Bow asked tersely. It was impressive how quick he was at the uptake; it was no wonder Sparks fell for him. Venomous’ immediate suggestion was quickly quashed in his mind; even he didn’t think it was a good gamble. The last thing he wanted was for everyone at the Plaza to be after his blood. Thankfully, Boxman was one step ahead of him.

“If we win, then we get to destroy the Plaza without interference for the first fifteen minutes. _And_,” he raised a finger in the air to further his point, “you will surrender the windows of the Bodega to us.”

“What do you want with our windows?” El Bow’s glasses drooped as his face scrunched with confusion.

“Without them, birds will swoop in and poop all over your food!” Boxman cackled at the end. He would have been lying if he said that Darrell didn’t inherit his own brand of petty evil from him.

“You fiend! The Health Department would shut me down over something like that!”

“And if you win,” Boxman continued as though El Bow hadn’t interrupted him, “Then we will grant you fifty percent of our ill-gotten glorbs.”

Venomous gave his partner a funny look, “Not that I have a problem with this, but doesn’t that seem a bit much?”

“I don’t have to hear it from Cosma if it happens,” Boxman smirked, “You have most of the shares to Boxmore and its not like we can’t steal anymore later.”

Venomous coughed loudly and gestured to El Bow, who was now giving the two of them a harrowing expression that told them to try him. If they wanted to keep all of their limbs in place.

“Deal,” El Bow said after a few moments. When he clasped hands with Venomous, the villain quickly remembered why it was a bad idea when the handshake was complete, and he was left with a throbbing hand in need of ice.

**OK K.O. (LET’S BE HEROES!)**

There was a coin toss to determine who would go first – which Boxmore won – and then the teams got into positions. Boxmore would go first with batting while the Plaza denizens would be spread out in the field. K.O. did his best to explain the terms to Dendy as they went towards the center and right field spots as directed.

“– and if there are batters on all bases when a home run is hit, then it’s called a Grand Slam. And we don’t want that to happen.”

“And three strikes make an out, but four balls make a run?” Dendy scratched her head, “This sounds overly complicated, even for me. Would you tell me again what our jobs are?”

“We all spread out across the field to cover as much ground as we can – I think you’re supposed to stand over there, Dendy – and then we try to catch the ball when the batter swings it. Then we have to get it to home base as fast as we can before the batter gets there first.”

“Sounds plausible,” Dendy stood at her position as K.O. went over towards the right side of the field, twenty paces away.

K.O. thought that one of the best things about being far out was that you were given the chance to see the action on a larger scale with a great view. He and Dendy both shared a few laughs as Mega Football Baby got struck out first by Enid – “I was built to do FOOTBALL!” – and got a little apprehensive when Darrell managed to hit the ball and almost made it to first base before Brandon tagged him out.

Boxman’s face was twitching rapidly and appeared to be putting in a tremendous effort into not screaming. K.O. didn’t think much of it until he grabbed Raymond and pushed him towards the home base, muttering something angrily into the robot’s ear.

“Hey!” A Real Magic Skeleton called out to Dendy and K.O., “I didn’t hear what Boxman said. Did you?”

K.O. shrugged, “Probably said he would throw Raymond in the incinerator if he got out.”

He noticed Dendy looked concerned, as if she was recognizing something that he didn’t. Her face grow pale and even the beret on top of her head seemed to shake with anticipation as Raymand got into position.

“What’s wrong with you?” A Real Magic Skeleton asked. “We already got two outs and it’s not like we can’t take on some peacock like Raymond.”

“If we were simply doing battle with them, I would agree with your assessment,” Dendy’s hand shook as she adjusted her glasses, “But if I recall correctly, isn’t Raymond the athletic one of Boxman’s ‘children’?”

“Uh oh…” was all that K.O. managed to say before he saw the baseball flying overhead, out of the field, out of their reach, and then out of their sight. Raymond took a moment to stick his tongue out at everyone before casually jogging around all the bases. Boxmore was cheering him loudly all the while.

“This might be a problem,” Dendy grumbled.

Mikayla crept over to the home place with a baseball wound around her tail. Enid pitched as hard as she could, but Mikayla’s swing still connected with the ball. It was mercifully stopped by Rad, using his telekinesis to catch it.

“Weenie!” Bell Beefer called out, “You used your powers.”

“No one said it was against the rules,” Rad smirked as he dropped the ball into his outstretched hand.

“Darn it, he has us there,” Darrell grumbled.

“Alright Rad!” K.O. cheered. He grabbed Dendy’s hand and rushed over to the pitcher’s mound. Rad met him with a high five waiting and shared a chuckle as they saw Mikayla slink away giving the blue alien the stink eye.

Mega Football Baby and Bell Beefer walked past the three heroes, talking loudly.

“You know, Beefer,” Mega Football Baby started, “I’m kind of glad _Rad’s _not on our team.”

“Yeah!” Bell Beefer agreed, “He’s a lame weenie.”

Rad gritted his teeth as his former friends laughed meanly past him, but stopped when K.O. grabbed a hold of his hand.

“Don’t listen to them, Rad,” he said, “They’re not worth it. Besides!”

K.O. pulled Rad’s phone out of his pocket and held it up so Rad would see a picture of a gray kitten with a blue ribbon sitting inside of a teacup.

“Teacup can always put a smile on your face.”

Rad’s growing aggravation melted as he looked at the picture. A smile broke onto his face and he nodded in agreement.

“Let’s show Boxmore who’s boss!” He declared.

**OK K.O. (LET’S BE HEROES!)**

As the teams swapped sides, Rad noticed how Venomous’ gaze seemed to linger a few seconds longer on K.O. If he didn’t know any better, he would have called the man a creep to his face, pull K.O. behind him and tell the boy not to go near the villain anymore.

Not that he had any real say on the last part at this point, but it was the thought that mattered.

To his surprise, it was Fink who took her place on the pitcher’s mound rather than Raymond. Judging from that smug peacock’s expression, it was a deliberate choice. Dendy was looking over a handbook on baseball as she came to the home plate while a bat was tucked under her arm. After a few moments, she finally stored the book away and readjusted the bat into both her hands. She and Fink locked eyes and glowered at each other.

“This is gonna be _so _fun!” Fink jeered, “I get to beat your stinky Kappa butt while your Momma’s Boy boyfriend watches.”

“Both statements are inaccurate,” Dendy rolled her eyes, “We are playing baseball. Therefore, you cannot ‘kick’ my buttocks as this is a game of pelting balls at one another and batting them away with thick sticks. Secondly, K.O. is not my boyfriend and we are 6-11 years old. Far too young, in my opinion, to be participating in activities that are…icky.”

It was clear to everyone that Dendy’s cheeks were turning red but were all too polite to point it out to her.

Fink merely cackled and swung the ball at Dendy. Dendy quickly got into a stance, her bat ready to swing, when the ball vanished. A moment later, it reappeared covered in blue flames. K.O. barely had the chance to cry out a warning when the ball struck Dendy square in the face. She was sent flying right in Jethro, who stood right behind her as Boxmore’s umpire. Rad winced in sympathy as both of them tumbled back five feet, Jethro having the unfortunate role as acting cushion. Fink’s cruel laughter filled the air as K.O. and Mr. Gar were the first ones to come to Dendy’s aid.

It felt appropriate, Rad thought, that K.O. also made a point of helping Jethro stand up while Mr. Gar checked on the large bump on Dendy’s head. It took several repetitions from Dendy that she was fine to get the large man to back off and allow her to walk to first base. When he picked up the baseball on the ground, his face turned red and Fink stopped laughing, sensing danger.

Venomous broke that silence loudly, “If you don’t mind, El Bow, I want my baseball back! I bought it myself.”

K.O. gulped and slowly took a few steps backwards as Mr. Gar’s face turned red as he turned to Rad and Enid, who were trying to make themselves appear as small as possible. Rad knew from that look that they were toast, without any butter.

“HOW DID VENOMOUS GET HIS HANDS ON MY BALLS?!” Mr. Gar bellowed. K.O. began to whistle off key to alleviate the awkwardness of the situation. Knowing the kid, K.O. might have thought that maybe if he whistled loud enough, it would draw attention away from himself. Unfortunately, it didn’t, and from the look Mr. Gar was giving him, Rad knew all three of them were going to get grilled by their boss later.

“Why would you give my merchandise to a villain?” Mr. Gar demanded as Beardo got to the home plate.

“Because he paid for it?” Rad replied helplessly.

“Because they weren’t stolen?” Enid added quickly.

“Because I said I wanted to play catch?” K.O. chuckled at the end.

“What.”

K.O. realized what he said as the other heroes – Red Action, A Real Magic Skeleton, Brandon, and Beardo – as well as the rest of Boxmore’s team not in the know-how – Bell Beefer and Mega Football Baby – looked at him curiously.

“Why would you play catch with a villain?” Mega Football Baby stomped his foot at the end.

Rad wanted nothing more than to get that crummy former friend off K.O.’s back. This was something that he _knew_ was going to go badly if word got out; K.O. thought he and Enid were going to abandon him after the big reveal but they both proved him wrong. It broke Rad’s heart a little to realize how terrified his friend was of anyone finding out about his dad, no matter how close he was to them. It was like all the adventures and fights and fun times they shared had no meaning. Dendy considered it to be “illogical” for K.O. to expect his loved ones to turn on him so easily.

It was people like Bell Beefer and Mega Football Baby that K.O. had to worry about, unfortunately. It wouldn’t matter how much good the kid did and how much _unlike _Professor Snakeface he was. There were always going to be people that didn’t look past the exterior – like those jerks he used to consider best friends – and resist looking further.

“He was trying to catch Venomous yesterday cause he got out of the handcuffs and there wasn’t a net,” Rad didn’t realize he said this out loud until after he finished. It managed to have the right effect; the others agreeing in different ways that it sounded like something that would happen. Venomous appeared to be giving him a thumbs up, but no one else noticed. Bell Beefer and Mega Football Baby seemed satisfied with the explanation and for that, K.O. looked immensely relieved.

**OK K.O. (LET’S BE HEROES!)**

It was going bad for them. No, that wasn’t the right thing to say. Things were _suckish _for the Plaza team. While Red Action, Carol and Beardo were able to keep up with Rad and Enid and keep them from losing too badly, there were more than enough bad players to balance out the good. A Real Magic Skeleton and Brandon weren’t joking when they said they were better as benchwarmers. In fact, they were warming the benches for everyone right now.

K.O., as it turned out, had no idea how to swing a bat. Correction, he _knew_ how to _swing_ a bat, but not at a baseball. It kept slipping out of his hands and flying towards Fink. Or Venomous. Venomous seemed to be the favored target. If looks could kill, then Boxman and Fink would be murderers.

As for Dendy…the less said about her skills, the better.

It wasn’t long before they were in the ninth inning. And it still felt too slow, in Rad’s opinion. Between the taunting from Bell Beefer and Mega Football Baby that was starting to get harder to ignore and the slipups from the others when they were at home plate, Rad just wanted the day to end.

While Carol got to bat again, Mr. Gar was assisting K.O. with his swinging technique, guiding the boy’s hands and adjusting the stance as they went. As Carol managed to get to first base, Rad could have sworn that he saw Venomous glowering.

**OK K.O. (LET’S BE HEROES!)**

“Alright, K.O., you stand like that – good – and you swing with your hips. Move with the bat.” Venomous felt his teeth grinding against each other and turned away in disgust. He caught Fink’s eye and walked over to her.

“No mercy,” he said as he slipped a Monster Ball into her outstretched palms. Fink grinned maliciously at this and went to the pitcher’s mound as K.O. got to the home plate. Their eyes met and Fink wound up for the throw, smirking as the Monster Balll shot forward like an arrow. Right as it began to envelop itself in flames, K.O. swung the bat as hard as he could and struck it right as the ball vanished.

Everyone waited with bated breath as they wondered where the ball would reappear next. A moment later, a resounding _crack! _that came from the opposite side of the field was heard and Boxman came pelting towards where Venomous was howling in agony.

Boxman spent the next few minutes looking over his partner and fussing over him needlessly. Rad was beginning to wonder if the game was going to continue when the villain finally turned his head towards the heroes.

“Alright,” he said with the coolest expression Rad had even seen him wear, “That’s it. Game’s done. NOW PREPARE TO BE DESTROYED BY OUR BALLS!”

The rest of Boxmore grinned maliciously and began to pelt everyone with the rest of the Monster Balls in their possession. Rad felt K.O. and Enid join him by his side and the three of them sprang into battle. Bell Beefer and Mega Football Baby began to taunt at whoever they felt like before Rad gave them one deadly glare that sent them running. And for some reason, Rad noticed how disappointed Venomous looked as the balance of the universe was set right once more.

**OK K.O. (LET’S BE HEROES!)**

Professor Venomous never had a reputation for handling injuries of any kind like a weakling. He had the mentality of a fighter and the brains of an evil scientist, the combination made him very respectable by villain standards and deadly by hero standards. So it was clear how he was supposed to handle having a Monster Ball pelted at him in an area that was recently injured.

By screaming into a pillow while his partner applied more cream on the area. Thank Cob Fink wasn’t around to pick up the choice of words that he was bellowing into the cushion. It was a nice, plush thing that wasn’t easy to come by without the right amount of cash. It was also very absorbent and Venomous was fairly certain that much of what he was saying wouldn’t be heard by anyone else unless they were leaning very close to his head. Of course, anyone who was dumb enough to try that who’s name wasn’t Boxman would find that to be the last thing they ever did.

“If you tell me we should have drawn out the reveal one more time, I’m going to hurt you,” Venomous said hoarsely after his bout of screaming was finished. He accepted the offered glass of water without question and drained it in one go. The cool drink was like a balm on his throat and Venomous eagerly accepted a refill and a cough drop to go with it.

“I wasn’t going to say that,” Boxman rolled his eyes in such a dramatic fashion that Venomous couldn’t help but chuckle at. “Next time you want to be creative with revenge, just do what I would do.”

“You would have just thrown the balls at their windows,” Venomous droned.

“Precisely,” Boxman smiled.

“That would have required getting too close to that Bodega again,” Venomous winced as he readjusted himself on the bed, turning over to face Boxman better. “Speaking of which, any word from the others?”

“Those brats managed to beat them,” Boxman growled, “Maybe I shouldn’t have ordered them to attack with those other heroes nearby. The one legged Red Actor or something and that goblin man sprang into action. Gar was a step behind them.”

“And Silver Sparks?”

Boxman smirked. “Is _that _who you’re curious hearing about? The ex?”

Venomous looked gobsmacked at this and denials began to formulate on his lips when Boxman started laughing, but not in a mean manner. He sighed and rested his head back on the pillow, wishing for the day to end.

“You know, PV, I’m rather surprised at your little idea,” Boxman continued, “I mean, sure, the plan didn’t turn out as I’d have liked it to, but the whole Monster Ball thing was a nice cover.”

“Cover for what?”

“To see your brat, of course,” Boxman shook his head and scooted off the bed. As he walked out the door, he gave Venomous one last smirk and said, “I just hope K.O. appreciated your little gesture.”

“What gesture?” Venomous demanded, but Boxman only laughed again.


	9. The Surprise

K.O. clutched his backpack tightly in both hands as he marched up to the front of Boxmore. He didn’t know it was possible, but he was feeling more dread than the last weekend for a number of reasons. The failed attempt at playing catch, not helped by Rad and Enid wishing for revenge against Venomous, resulting in a _ very _ infuriated Boxman that K.O. was lucky to have escaped from unscathed. The baseball game, where Venomous got hurt, _ again, _by K.O., albeit accidentally. The fact that his father was a villain and that they seemed to have very little ground to work with. And the underlining feeling that Venomous was definitely going to want some payback for the abuse he had suffered over the past week alone. A horde of thoughts flooded his head of what he was going to see when he knocked on the door... 

_ ‘You ruined the baseball game just to get back at me!’ Professor Venomous snarled. He held up a syringe filled with clear liquid. His grin was predatory as he advanced towards K.O. _ _ , who became paralyzed with fear. _ _ ‘Lucky for you, I have an idea for how to make us even…’ _

Of course, that first idea was ridiculous. It was just a silly game with lots of name calling and petty insults. Nothing out of the ordinary in baseball or in fighting Boxmore. Or during attacks on the Plaza. Besides, his mommy and Mr. Gar would probably turn Venomous into a snakeskin handbag if he tried hurting K.O. like that. But maybe… 

_ ‘I can’t _ believe _ you foiled our plans and embarrassed me like that! Fink, unleash the _ _ robo _ _ -hounds!’ K.O.’s body trembled as a stampede of large, mechanical dogs with razor-sharp teeth came rushing at him. _ _ For some reason, their heads were all shaped like Boxman... _

Again, he thought that wouldn’t make much sense either. Why would Venomous make a bunch of robots? That was Boxman’s specialty. But what if…? 

_ ‘ _ _ You _ _ snot-nosed brat!’ Boxman shouted as he held a weeping Venomous in his short arms. Both of them were wearing leather pants and appeared less villainous and more abnormal _ _ and attractive to younger women _ _ . ‘I _ knew _ this was _ _ gonna _ _ end badly! You wrecked Boxman Jr.! You have infested this area with your sickening friendship. And worst of all, you made my PV _ _ pookie _ _ -poo cry! _ Children _ !’ _

_ Shannon, Darrell, Raymond, Mikayla, Ernesto, and Jethro appeared and stood at attention. _ _ Their faces were unreadable. _

_ Boxman pointed a finger at K.O. as he held _ _ the weeping _ _ Venomous closer to his body, ‘Change of plans. Capture this boy and USE HIM TO ATTACK THE PLAZA!’ _

That last thought made K.O. shudder a little. Darrell would probably have his tentacle arms attached and use K.O. like a wrecking ball. While singing about wrecking balls with the sounds of screams as the chorus. It certainly sounded like something Darrell would do, but did he have the voice to do it? 

Why was his brain taking a cynical route today? K.O. agreed to get to know Venomous better, he wanted to make things work between them. And the more he knew about who his father was, the easier it would be for him to understand who T.K.O. really was and how to keep that darker side of him under control. There was no chance he could see T.K.O. as good, Shadowy Figure was the reason that he existed in the first place. And it was just a silly game of baseball...that ended badly for everyone. He could at least apologize for the new black eye he gave Venomous. 

He swallowed and took one look at the front door before softly knocking on it. A few moments, later, the door slid open and Venomous appeared. 

K.O. decided that his last prediction could be considered _ somewhat _accurate. Venomous didn’t appear in his usual attire. Thankfully, he wasn’t wearing leather pants. Or crying his eyes out... 

“K.O.?” Venomous looked surprised at seeing the boy. He put a hand to his forehead and muttered quietly, “Right. The weekend. Completely forgot. Come in?” 

He moved himself so that K.O. could pass through easily. Something was definitely wrong. K.O. never saw Professor Venomous in anything other than his lab coat and turtleneck, so it was a surprise to see that he replaced both of those with a black business coat, black vest and white dress shirt underneath. His hair was slicked down, too. On the lapel where a rose would be, there was a small skull. He had to admit, the attire suited Professor Venomous perfectly. Nothing said ‘villain’ like a skull for a lapel - wasn’t that what those flower things were called? - and for some reason, K.O. felt himself straighten a little. 

K.O. must had been staring much longer than he realized because Venomous smirked and said, “What? Never seen your old man in something nice?” 

K.O. shook his head. He always suspected that Venomous had countless labcoats and turtlenecks in his closet. Come to think of it, _ he _had plenty of the same shirts and shorts to wear too in his own closet back home. He always had a hard time choosing new outfits when Mommy took him clothes shopping. 

Venomous continued, his pace quickening a bit, “I didn’t have a chance to call up ahead of time, this was sort of a last minute thing. A colleague of mine by the name of Billiam Millaim’s throwing a party at his mansion.” 

“Is...he a villain?” K.O. slowly asked. 

“Huh?” Venomous looked at K.O. funnily, “Yeah, he’s one of the bigger villains.” 

“Boss!” Fink came charging at them full-speed down the hall. She stuck her tongue out at K.O. before turning to Venomous, “I got an update! Billiam’s having a mystery guest there.” 

“A mystery guest,” Venomous parroted the words, “That’s unlike him.” 

“I bet it’s gonna be Dr. Blight!” Fink continued, a dark gleam in her eyes appearing, “She’s been around for a _ looooong _ time, it has to be her! We don’t gets lots of female villains like Cosma anymore an’ the one’s we do get are so stinkin’ stupid! It has to be Blight, no one could match her level of evil like her!” 

“Well...I guess we’ll have to...reschedule?” K.O. tried to keep the disappointment from creeping into his voice. If Venomous was going to be busy with a villain’s party, then it would give them a bit more time to forget about the unfortunate baseball game. But he was also looking forward to another attempt at knowing his dad; even if he was a villain, there _ had _to be good in him. 

Unfortunately, all it did was make Venomous sweat all of a sudden. 

“I-I don’t think that’ll be necessary, you little...” Venomous tried to place a hand on K.O.’s head, but he instinctively bared his teeth at the professor in response. Venomous concluded weakly as he withdrew, “...scamp...” 

“Boss! Boss!” Fink hopped up and down eagerly. Venomous looked at her tiredly. Fink’s cheeks turned red, “You can ruffle _ my _hair if you want.” 

Venomous sighed but complied nonetheless and completely failed to notice Fink sticking her tongue at K.O. again as he did so. Even if he didn’t like Fink, K.O. knew that she was lucky to have someone care for her as deeply as Venomous clearly did. 

No, he was thinking a little too negative about this. Professor Venomous might be a villain and might also be a lousy person, but deep down, K.O. knew that there was the man that used to be Lazerblast in there. He could almost see it coming through Venomous’ mannerisms if he paid close attention. Like when he got nervous when he saw Mommy; he _ clearly _ still cared about her even if he was dating – and K.O. fought the urge to shudder at this next part – _ Boxman. _His own father dating a villain; who would have imagined that? 

What was he thinking about again? Oh, yeah, Venomous trying parenting. He must have had practice with Fink and he’s been willing to want to spend more time with K.O. That was a sign that K.O. ought to keep an open mind about the villain. So how come Fink didn’t call Venomous ‘Dad’? 

“K.O.” Venomous suddenly started, “Er...son...would _ you _like to be my plus one?” 

“WHAT?!” Fink’s smug expression had vanished while K.O. cleaned the insides of his ears to make sure there wasn’t anything blocking them. That was...that was...he wasn’t sure what to think at the moment. He was expecting to wait up until Venomous and Fink got back from their little party and maybe watch some movie before bed; going into a shindig where there was nothing but villains sounded more like one of Mr. Gar’s missions than a father-son activity. Plus, there wouldn’t be anyone there that he knew or trusted. If Rad or Enid were allowed to come with him, then he supposed it wouldn’t be an issue. 

“We’d have to get you a suit on short notice,” Venomous continued, completely unaware of K.O.’s mute shock, “Maybe a disguise too. Any villain with a brain would be able to recognize a hero...” 

K.O. tried speaking up, “That’s not necessary...” 

“Of course it is,” Venomous didn’t spare him a glance as he pulled out his phone, “Disguises are everything in a world of villains and heroes. We could turn this into a little challenge. See how many people we can fool before leaving. I’d say about twenty – that's at least half of the guest list, knowing Billiam – but if we keep interactions to a minimum, I’d say we could make it through the whole night without an issue –" 

“So that’s it, huh?!” Venomous flinched at the sharp tone and looked at Fink incredulously. Even K.O. stared at her; this was probably the first time he ever saw the hench-rat girl snap at her own boss. Fink glowered at the two of them, “You want to go to some stinkin’ party and have some ‘Daddy-Son time’? FINE! I didn’t wanna go anyways!” 

And with that, Fink stormed off in a huff, taking a moment to stop and punch a wall next to her. Then she was gone. 

“Is she gonna be okay?” K.O. slowly asked. He shivered as he saw the big dent in the metal. 

“She’ll probably be on one of her videos game when we get back,” Venomous didn’t sound that concerned. After another moment of silence, he cleared his throat, “Right. We need to get you a suit for the party.” 

“Way ahead of you,” And with that, K.O. immediately ripped his casual clothing off, revealing a fancy tuxedo underneath it with a big red bow-tie. Venomous went bug-eyed at the sight, then muttered under his breath how Boxman did the same thing last time, whatever that meant. 

K.O. then pulled out a fake, bushy moustache that he slapped onto his face. Venomous’ eyes seemed to grow wider at that, but then he chuckled. 

“That _ did _fool me, I suppose...” He pulled out a set of keys and guided K.O. out, “To the party.” 

** OK K.O. (LET’S BE HEROES!) **

Stupid boss and his stupid kid having fun without Fink! The entire thing stinked! She was his right hand, his laser blaster, his partner in crime! But ever since Box Boss crashed at their place and _ wrecked everything in minutes _, she’d been getting pushed to the side more often. Fink barely saw her boss anymore since he’d been getting busier and busier with stupid Plaza attacks and crud! 

It wasn’t fair! Bad enough she had to share her boss with a robot chicken and his robot children, now she had to share him with a stinkin’ hero! No, not a hero. A _ momma’s boy _. How long did her boss even know about the brat? The dinner with Boxman? Was he gonna make her share a bedroom with the brat, too?! 

Boss was the one person in whole wide world she could trust; she had been doing it for years after all. It was fine when it was just her and him, together against everyone else. Even on those stupid, crummy, dumb, _ horrible _ days where he got super tired and cranky, she still wanted to be by his side no matter what. Because that was what a minion was supposed to do, show loyalty to the last breath. 

It wasn’t because he was her dad, he wasn’t. Darrell could call him ‘Stepdaddy’ all he wanted, blegh! Same with the rest of the robots. She wasn’t gonna fall into that stupid trick; after all, Box Boss wasn’t a great dad to his kids, so why the heck should she call him her Box Dad? 

Stinkin’ thing stinked! _ She _was supposed to be the one person Boss could trust with anything he threw at her. And now she felt like she was being turned into a side character in one of her RPGs or favorite shows where only one character does everything and everyone else is their cheerleader. Like, what was the point of having that character in the first place if they weren’t gonna do anything else after a couple of episodes? Was it because they could change their hair color or something to get a stupid power-up? 

Normally, she’d be taking her frustrations out on some online wimps in her videos game, but today, she felt as though she needed something different. The whole place stinked like Box Boss and motor oil and she needed fresh air - 

Her lips curled into an awful smile. Yes, that would do it. Some fresh air, mixed with the sounds of explosives and the screams of terror in the air. Maybe a little hint of smoke. Just as things were dying down at the end of a long day. They’d never know what hit ‘em. Fink glanced at one of the cameras to her left and waited until it was looking the other way before she snuck into a room and snagged a few glorbs. 

If Boss ever found out that she was stealing glorbs again – or Box Boss for that matter – Fink was gonna get an earful from the two of them and get punished. Well, probably _ not _get punished, Boss would never throw her into an incinerator like Box Boss would. Her precious eyes could melt the heart of the coldest villain. Or at least almost all villains. 

Which was why she didn’t feel scared “borrowing” several glorbs for tonight. One wouldn’t be enough for what she wanted to do. And that momma’s boy proved that she needed to catch up, and fast. Even Jethro was gonna beat her at this rate; she overheard Shannon saying something about that little box saying his first words and starting a rebellion among his species. 

With everything she needed, Fink stormed into the nearest bathroom, throwing Box Boss outside without apology on his butt. 

“Fink!” He shouted angrily, clutching a newspaper in one hand and pulling his pants up with the other, “I was using that!” 

“Well I need it more!” Fink stuck her tongue out at him in defiance and slammed the door in his face. She opened it again and said, “And we’re all out of toilet paper!” She slammed it again. 

Boxman stared at the closed door as Darrell walked by. He put a hand to his chin thoughtfully, “Must have been something she ate earlier.” 

“Daddy...” Darrell looked at the door with dread, “I don’t think she needs to use the potty.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Darrel would sing "Wrecking Ball" by Miley Cyrus if he ever used K.O. as one on the Plaza.


	10. The Night Out Pt I

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I AM SO SORRY FOR MY LONG ABSENCE, PLEASE FORGIVE ME! *Cries in a corner*

K.O. scratched underneath the fake moustache; he had forgotten how itchy it felt. Maybe it was different if you grew one out naturally, like Mr. Gar did.

A quick shake of the head from Venomous reminded K.O. of the importance of keeping his cover. He ought to have been more excited going into a supervillain gathering in disguise, it was something he never did before – well, if you didn't count attempting to wreck Boxman's dinner with Professor Venomous – and would have been a thrilling experience.

The thing was, K.O. was more concerned with what would happen if his cover was blown. What would happen? He'd be surrounded by countless enemies without anyone to help him...well, except for his father, but it wasn't a complete given at the moment. Like standing on the edge of a butter knife.

Billiam Milliam, he figured from the gigantic house with grand columns at the entrance, had to be – what was that word Enid used a lot to describe people in those magazines she reads? - loaded. The pathway was covered with either water fountains, nude statues of cupids or nude statues of cupid standing in water fountains. Side to side, K.O. felt himself being stared at by endless shrubbery trimmed to look like some short man with a curly hairdo dressed in a toga. If this Billiam guy was a villain, did that mean that these were security measures? That had to be a good reason for the creepy art and statues; it wasn't like this guy just loved looking at himself everywhere he went, right?

Right?

"Succulentus, you look absolutely vile tonight," a golden-skinned man that was most certainly Billiam greeted...ew! A talking vegetable! Wait, that was the guy from Mother's Day that Mommy fought.

Double ew!

Succulentus walked – or was it slithered – inside the manor and Venomous and K.O. were next.

"Professor Venomous, I'm charmed," Billiam took Venomous' outstretched hand and kissed it. Once. Twice. By the third time, Venomous pulled his hand away quickly and subtly rubbed it against his jacket.

"I never got to thank you for the payment you sent us," Venomous smiled at the gold man, though it didn't reach his eyes.

Billiam chuckled, "Those glorbs you acquired were more than enough to compensate. The pleasure is all mine, in fact."

"Urg..." K.O.'s eyes widened when he realized he said that out loud. Oh Cob.

"And who is your plus one this time?" Billiam drawled, looking at K.O. diffidently, "I was certain I made it clear that Boxman was never to be brought over as your guest after last time." The final bit was added with a glower at Venomous, who barely appeared phased by it.

Venomous placed a hand on K.O.'s head – and clearly ignoring the involuntary flinch from the boy – and spoke, "This is my new intern at Boxmore, K...Ka...Ka...noli! Yeah, Kanoli. He's got a lot of potential, even if he doesn't see it."

As he said this last part, Venomous gave K.O. a particularly endearing smile. There was nothing about it that seemed forced, so it was clear he was saying '_Please give villainy a chance for your old man_.' K.O. smiled back, though it was forced, and said in a thick accent like the one he used when crashing Venomous' dinner with Boxman so long ago, "I don'ta know about. Meya Momma dinks Imma better offa in da family business."

_I won't become a villain even for you!_

"Ooooh," Billiam clasped his hands in delight, "A foreigner! You certainly have exquisite tastes, if I do say so myself. Pleasure to meet you, Kanoli."

K.O. felt himself being pulled close to Venomous' side at that statement and he wasn't sure how much he was imagining the growl that came from the man. Was it a bad thing that Billiam said? Mommy always told him about Stranger Danger and there was nothing about Billiam that made K.O. think of someone like Shadowy Figure. Was Professor Venomous just getting annoyed with the man?

"Well, we prefer not to waste anymore of your time, Billiam. See you later." Venomous had a hand firmly on K.O.'s shoulder as he guided the boy into the house.

"Enjoy the party, Kanoli." Billiam called out to them as they walked inside. If K.O. lingered for a few seconds longer, he would have seen the gears in Billiam's brain turning and lead to the villain wondering why on Earth that new intern looked so familiar to him...

O.K. K.O. (LET'S BE HEROES!)

Fink crawled through the sewage pipe, checking her tracker to check her progress. If the GPS signal was accurate – which it ought to be thanks to Boss – then she'd reach her destination in a few moments. She felt alive in here, with nothing to trust but herself and the stuff on her back. Boxmore had grown on her over the past few months, but Fink missed the simple thrill of pipe exploring.

But the moment she would catch a whiff of iron, she'd be scurrying back home and burying herself into her videos game. She could carry on with her plan later, when her heart stopped pounding in her chest. Mindlessly blowing up computer characters on the screen always felt...fake. And that was a good thing. Fink loved blowing things up like her Boss and the sounds of people screaming were like a lullaby to her, but there were lines that she wouldn't cross.

If she went _that_ far, then there'd be no one else to bother!

She found the pipe she was looking for, and crawled upwards. As Fink jumped out of the unknown toilet, she heard a soft gasp and pumped her fists in the air. The blonde Old Lady Mom had a scrubby thingy in her hand and was wearing rubber gloves. Such a perfect coincidence. Brought back memories of when she fought the Brat for the first time! Would his Mommy shriek in terror like the Brat did, too, she wondered?

Fink landed on the tiled surface with a _splash!_ and pumped her fists in the air triumphantly.

"MUAH HA HA HA!" Fink cackled maniacally, "Looks like the Momma's Boy's Momma is all alone in her teeny-weeny empty house! Guess she never expected company to come knocking, now did she?"

She pressed a button on her bag and glorbs started vacuuming through the tubs connected to it and into her collar. A purple aura began to overshadow her body, her hair became mangled, her teeth razor-sharp, and her collar spiked. Fink rose into the air like an unholy phantom, looming over the woman like a hawk. She began to cackle loudly, reveling in her eminent victory.

_'Now everyone will see I'm still in the game!'_ Fink thought triumphantly. If she had taken a moment to think, she would have realized that she hadn't actually accomplished anything yet. And if she had taken two moments to think, Fink would have realized she entered the house of a superhero that was level 10 and had years of experience under her belt.

And if Fink had bothered to even look at the woman, she would have noticed that she didn't appear to be frightened at all at the girl.

"Time for you to know _pure terro_ –" Fink's triumphant smirk was wiped clean when the Old Lady Mom suddenly grabbed her from midair and forced her to the floor. A quick swipe of her collar and the purple aura – and power – were both gone.

"Huh," the Old Lady Mom looked at Fink with mild interest, "Rats can really do that. Hot dog! I thought it was just some rumor spread by some looney." And with that, she laughed merrily as if Fink's failed attack was a pleasant surprise to her.

"What?" Fink asked flatly.

"I always thought rats going through plumage was just a myth," the Old Lady Mom laughed again as she said this, "Man, Gene's gonna get a _kick_ out of this!"

"I was floating in midair in a dark, spooky aura and the only thing that surprised you was me _coming out of the toilet_?!"

The Old Lady Mom ignored this and took a proper grasp at Fink's hand. Fink began pulling, amazed at the Old Lady Mom's strength. Why in Cob's name did Boss have to date someone like her?! Did he just like people with power or something?!

Was Box Boss secretly beefy underneath all that blubber?

"Stop squirming, missy," the Old Lady Mom chided gently as she pulled Fink's wrist, "I don't bite."

"Lies! Whatever torture you have for me is nothing I fear!" Fink shouted in defiance, "So, what do you have in mind for me? The classic lava pit? Razor sharp spikes to crush me? _A giant wheel for me to run on with no cheese to motivate me?! I can take it_!"

"You need a bath," the Old Lady Mom smiled, "You stink worse than my Peanut."

"NO!" Fink suddenly started to struggle against the Old Lady Mom's grip in terror. "ANYTHING BUT THAT! UNHAND ME, YOU HAG! I'LL EVEN WATCH A MOVIE ABOUT CATS SINGING!"

Old Lady Mom frowned, "That's not a nice thing to say, young...rat...lady."

"My name's Fink!" Fink snarled. There was no stinkin' way she was letting some Momma's Boy's Momma call her a rat!

...even if it was true...

She grumbled as Old Lady Mom lifted her up and gently placed her in the empty bathtub.

Old Lady Mom smiled, "And mine's Carol. Nice to meet you." She adjusted the nozzle on the showerhead so that it was pointing downwards. "Give me your coat and I can put it in the wash for you."

"How about I give you a taste of my fury instead!" Fink reached for the inside of her backpack when she suddenly felt herself being turned around and the backpack removed from her person.

"No clothing or toys in the bathtub," Old Lady Mom wagged her finger disapprovingly at her. She narrowed her eyes at the bag and began digging through it, "What's _in_ here, anyways?"

Fink grumbled as she reluctantly handed over her coat to the Old Lady Mom's outstretched hand. Darrell wasn't gonna let her live this one down. She'd rather people find out about her Lord of the Loot lunchbox than about this!


End file.
